Floe Island: The Story of Jenny Flint
by Bluejeanserenade
Summary: Jenny Flint, resident of tiny Floe Island and daughter to Elite Four Lorelei, never had any desire to become a Pokemon trainer, but when she is kidnapped by notorious crime syndicate Team Rocket, her peaceful lifestyle is challenged. Does she have what it takes to save her island home?
1. Prologue

The warm, blue, Floe Island. The smallest the Sevii Islands. Population? A measly 32 people. Occasionally, the Seagallop'll give us a few visitors but they never last long. They come, they marvel at the scenery, they visit the various sites: the move tutor, the Daycare Center, the weird sticker guy. They marvel at the wonders of Elite Four Lorelei's house and her mass of PokéDolls, disappear for a while into Icefall Cave, maybe go to the Pokémon Center, then they leave. They all leave. Why on earth would they stay? More importantly, why do I stay?

Of course, I'm getting ahead of myself! I should really introduce myself! My name is Jenny Flint, 15 years old. I was born on this island and sometimes I feel like I will die on this island. I leave roughly twice a year to get school supplies and new clothes from Fortune Island.

Things that I like to do on the island? Not all that much. I mostly just hang out with the four other kids, roughly my age. We hang out on the beach, climb the tiny excuse for a dormant volcano or when we feel most daring, we mess around in Icefall Cave. Our school is literally run in the Daycare Center. Mr. and Mrs. Crick, the elderly couple who run the center, alternate between teaching the younger group and the older group.

I was basically raised by Mr. and Mrs. Crick, who run a daycare for children as well as for Pokémon. My mother only comes home in the winter, leaving me to fend for myself for the rest of the year. To me, this was always considered just another thing that made my life suck. Of course, it's always nice to see your parent succeed in life, but when their success gets in the way of your relationship, it tends to cause a little resentment. To make matters worse, she always tries to make it up for me by bringing me home heaps of PokéDolls. Our house if full of them; so full it's basically a tourist attraction. I resent the PokéDolls, too.

You've probably guessed it by now but my mother is the Elite Four's one and only Lorelei. She's been in the Elite Four going on eight years now and has always been an avid traveler and trainer. Unfortunately, having a child doesn't really fit into that kind of lifestyle. Even when I was little, before she got that dreaded invitation to join the Pokémon League she was never around. I was adopted by every house on this island. They all took me in and loved me and tried to explain that my mother was a very busy woman and she'll be back soon. She won't always be gone…

And sure enough, she'd be back in the winter, when the warm tropical air became just a little bit cooler and just a little bit wetter. Monsoon season was always a peach. The waves would crash, the rains would come and so would my mother. She'd come and we'd fight and I'd mope and forgive her. Then she'd act like she was the World's Number One Mom, we'd hug, we'd cry, and then she'd leave. Happens every year, without fail.

Of course, this story is actually a story, not just a rant about my lame little life. Just thought I'd give you a little background info before we hit the ground running with how my little life changed.


	2. Chapter 1: Mt Floe

**AN: Hey y'all! This is my first Fanfic so please read, review and above all, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. If I did chances are, I probably wouldn't be writing on this site**

The sun streamed in through my window. It was a lovely sunny morning in mid-June. The sea breeze wafted in as I sat up and stretched lazily, looking to my alarm clock. Just barely the crack of eleven. I wondered if anyone else was up yet. I pulled myself up, kicked a rogue PokéDoll out of the way, and made my way to the bathroom to start my morning routine.

Once I was all freshened up and fed, I left my house. Really the only time I was home was to sleep, bathe and eat. I tromped over to my best friend Elsa's house, whistling some weird folk song I had learned as a kid, waving to Sailor Stu as I passed.

I had scarcely made it onto Elsa's front porch when Elsa herself opened the door.

"I heard you whistling from across the house," Elsa, a short 14 year old with dark hair and big blue eyes, said with a mock scowl. "You're up early."

"Ha ha, very funny," I said sarcastically. I knew that she had probably been up since 8:30 at the latest, and judging by her heavily paint-stained hands, she had had a productive morning. "Are we still on for hiking Mt. Floe today?"

"Ha ha of course!" Elsa laughed attempting to rub the dried paint off her hands. "Picnic in the crater?"

"Yep, but it's your turn to bring the basket," I said knowing that Elsa had already made lunch and packed it. We had this conversation basically every time we climbed the 750 ft hill we called Mt. Floe, so perhaps every other week in the summer.

"Let me just wash off," she looked around as if deliberating something, then called, "Johnny!"

"Marrill," croaked a small voice. A round, blue Pokémon bumbled into view. Elsa's little Marrill, Johnny, looked up at us, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. Elsa had this thing about naming her Pokémon people names.

Elsa squatted, getting closer to Johnny's level, "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" she said softly. The Marrill merely grumbled crankily. "Mind helping me wash my hands? Maybe a little water gun? Please?"

Elsa held out her painty hands towards the Marrill, who obliged with a weak spurt of water. I watched my friend innocently washing her hands in the Marrill's water gun. What a good trainer she was to get her Pokémon to obey such a silly command, although how lazy of her to just use her Pokémon like this. It seemed almost irresponsible.

Johnny seemed to be thinking about the same thing. I watched as a wicked gleam appeared in his eyes as he watched his oblivious trainer before completely soaking her with a sudden spurt of water. She fell on her butt, gasping in shock. "I should have expected that," she breathed as I fell to the ground in hysterics. Johnny simply hmph-ed and wobbled away.

After Elsa had changed into dry clothes and I had composed myself, we set off on our hike. Mt. Floe was approximately 750 feet tall and took up a good solid most of our island. It overlooked our tiny town, set just at the base of the rocky hill and served to be a treacherous climb most of the time. Inlaid into the base, just next to the town was the ever popular Icefall Cave. Elsa and I travelled the hill so often that we had made several small trails through the shrubs and trees that covered the steep hillside.

As we hiked up Mt. Floe, Elsa softly sang a popular rap song from the mainland, Johnny riding on her shoulder. She had this interesting habit of turning rap into the blues. As she wove the complex and somewhat dirty song into a lovely melody, I couldn't help but laugh. Johnny occasionally added some of his own input into the song by humming backup vocals or made up guitar riffs. They made quite the duet!

We made it up Mt. Floe in record time and relatively unscathed; I only tripped over two rocks and a root while Elsa managed to keep her balance the entire time. Quite the feat for someone with their head in the clouds! We rounded the summit and looked down into the grassy crater, an old relic from Floe's volcanic days.

"We made it!" Elsa shouted, flopping down onto the grass and opening her picnic basket, sending a startled Johnny sprawling off of her shoulder. He bounced, and looking highly affronted, smacked her in the back of the head with the ball of his tail before going to the middle of the crater and sitting down with his back to us.

"What's eating him?" Elsa asked innocently, rubbing the back of her head.

"Hmmm," I said before tucking into my customary tuna fish sandwich.

Elsa unwrapped her PB&J, still looking confused. "When we get back," she said slowly raising her sandwich, "we should go fishing."

"For what?" I asked, "You know I never catch anything. Plus, remember that time in school where we had to learn all of the Pokémon on the island? You can only catch Poliwag, Magikarp, and Goldeen here with a Good Rod!"

"Ah, but it's fun. You'd be a lot less lonely if you just got a Pokémon, you know."

"I'm fine," I told her with a scowl. I had a theory that Pokémon are what broke my family up. It seemed hypocritical to go out and catch one to train for myself. Besides, my mom's Pokémon and I never got along very well. I kind of felt like Pokémon and I didn't mix well.

Elsa looked at me knowingly. "You're making excuses in you head about why you don't want Pokémon, aren't you." I glared at her and she looked away smiling. Her smile broadened as Johnny rolled down the opposite side of the crater. He bounced comically as he hit the ground but immediately began to climb back up, growling. Elsa frowned, knitting her eyebrows together. "Johnny? What's wrong?" she called softly. She got up and made her way to where Johnny was climbing. This seemed to agitate him more. He sent a weak water gun in her direction, causing her to fall onto her bum. I got up to help her, laughing nervously.

"Johnny! What-"she shrieked but stopped abruptly. Johnny's growls had gotten more intense as someone's head appeared over the crater's edge.

A middle aged man in a black suit peered down at us. "I'm sorry to bother you girls," he said, his tone polite. "I'm looking for a Miss Jennifer Flint?"

"It's Jenny," I corrected. Who was this guy? Nobody on the island called me Jennifer.

He scrutinized my face, "Just like a miniature, glassesless version of your mother. Now, I was wondering if we could have a moment to talk? It's actually a matter of great importance. Concerning your mother." He held out a hand to help me up.

"Okay," I said, reaching up for his hand, the urge to tell him off falling away with concern for my mom. "Is my mother in trouble?"I asked.

I looked at Elsa uncertainly. Johnny was still growling, standing his ground. "I'm coming with you!" Elsa said quickly, scrambling up the side of the crater ahead of me. "I'm close with Lorelei as well."

"No!" the man practically shouted. "This is something only Jennifer needs to hear!" He pulled me up roughly, keeping a tight grip on my right wrist as he roughly pushed Elsa back over the side.

"Hey! What are you-" I shouted but he put a gloved hand over my mouth. Shit. I'm being kidnapped, aren't I, I thought, trying to struggle and failing miserably. I twisted my body hopelessly but his grip didn't even slacken.

It all seemed rather hopeless when suddenly, a huge, angry roar filled the top of the mountain. Elsa's Gyarados, Patrice, reared her huge, terrifying head over the edge of the crater, glaring at my captor and looking very intimidating. The man sighed and let go of my mouth, still keeping a firm grip around my wrist. "ELSA!" I sobbed, struggling to get away. He kicked me in the back of the knees, forcing me down painfully before pulling a PokeBall from his belt and unleashing an angry looking Jolteon.

"Patrice! Surf!" I heard Elsa yell. I knew she was panicking. She only had water Pokémon. A huge wave of water appeared over the side of the crater, soaking us all, but the Jolteon merely shook it off, cracking with electricity.

"Jolteon. Use Thunder," the man growled softly.

"Jolt!" it growled back. It quickly charged energy, sending a huge bolt of electricity straight into the huge Gyarados's face. She disappeared into the crater. I yelled hopelessly as I was pulled to my feet. He began to drag me down the hill when another roar, echoed from the crater. Patrice was back up and she looked very displeased. Her eyes glowed red as a huge ball of blue energy collected in her throat. I recognized this move from class: Dragon Rage.

"GYAAAAA!" Patrice roared as she shot the huge beam directly at the still sparking Jolteon which sent out an almost weak thunderbolt. It connected with the Dragon Rage but was immediately overpowered, Jolteon getting a direct hit from the huge beam, sending it flying onto its side.

"Jolteon…" it said, trying to shake off the beam's effects.

"Jolteon! Get up! Take him out with a Thunder!"

The Jolteon obliged, sending out a massive bolt of lightning. The Gyarados went down with a crash. I heard a sob from Elsa and I knew it was finished. I struggled fruitlessly, my knees protesting from when he had pushed me to the ground. "H-h-help me," I sobbed. I was so scared. My vision blurred from tears as I heard the man withdraw his Jolteon and began dragging me again.

"Stop!" Elsa shouted. I looked back. She was racing towards us, gathering momentum from the downward slope of the mountain. The man's grip held firm as he unleashed another Pokémon.

"Venomoth! Use Sleep Powder on this annoying girl" he shouted and the Venomoth obliged. Elsa stumbled as the Moth Pokémon covered her in powder. We watched as she tried to fight it, lifting her feet like they weighed 100 pounds, her eyelids dropping. She stumbled over a rock, hit the ground and fell asleep.

"NO!" I shouted. I began thrashing around and to my surprise, I actually managed to break his grip on my wrist. I started to run away, not believing my luck.

"You know what, Venomoth? Use Sleep Powder on her, too."

"No, go away!" I shouted stupidly as the giant moth hit me with a giant blast of sleep powder.

"This sucks," I heard myself say as I hit the ground, falling into a dead sleep.


	3. Chapter 2: Fight or Flight

**AN: Here is Chapter 2! Special thanks to japaneserockergirl for my first review ever! I'm hoping to write a lot more in the near future.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, nor do I plan on getting paid for this story. Do have a lovely day!  
**

"Jenny!" a pleasant voice called me out of my slumber. Outside, the winds were howling and rain was thrashing against the windows. I sat up at the kitchen table where I had fallen asleep, groggily peeling my drool covered geometry homework off of my face. Had I imagined that?

"Jenny! I'm home!"

Excitement surged through me as I realized what was going on. Mom was home! I abandoned my homework and ran into the next room and there she was, red hair soaked flat against her head, her glasses askew. "Jenny. Help me with these bags," she said, struggling slightly. "Sooo cold," she said, rubbing her hands together and pushing her bags into my hands before running upstairs.

"Ugh," I groaned. I could feel resentment toward her rising already. What kind of mother doesn't even say hello to her own daughter after not seeing her for half a year. Plus, her stuff was wet! I began to make my way slowly up the stairs following my mom's muddy footsteps to her room.

By the time I got up there, she had already peeled off her soaked clothes for a warm dry Saffron University sweatshirt and some Blue Indigo Plateau sweat pants.

"Ahhh! I feel so much better now!" she said, scooping me into a hug. "I missed you so much! You have no idea how hard it is to have to pretend to be such a cold and icy person!" she inhaled deeply. "Your hair smells good."

She stepped back, hands on my shoulders and looked at me, smiling. "You've let your hair grow out!"

"Yeah…" I said lamely. I couldn't think of anything to say to her. I could feel my emotions battling with each other, making it hard to think.

"Look! I got you something!" she exclaimed reaching for a shopping bag. She smiled widely as she handed it to me. Three googly eyed PokéDolls looked up at me.

I felt the battle between my emotions come to a close. Happiness had been knocked out and Sadness and Resentment teamed together to stomp out Hope and kick Indifference in the balls. Sadness and Resentment combined to make a giant, evil Anger.

"Mom," I said, the calm chilliness in my voice surprising me. "You know I hate PokéDolls. You never even said 'hello'. You hardly ever called. All you care about is your stupid Pokémon League. You spend more time on them than you do on me!" I was yelling now. My mother looked at me with such shock and hurt in her eyes. I regretted every word that I said but she made me feel so uncertain and unloved, I just couldn't stop.

"You always get me these stupid dolls! I hate them! I hate Pokémon! I hate this Island! I hate you!" The words burned in my throat and slid out my mouth before I could stop them. Tears flooded my eyes. My mom stared, distress playing across her face. She reached out to touch me but I slapped her away and ran down the stairs and out the door.

It was storming outside. I was freezing and wet in an instant.

"Dammit!" I shouted as I stepped into a puddle shin deep. Mud squeezed between my shoeless toes. _So stupid_! I hadn't even bothered to put on shoes in my rage. I really did hate everything right then. "Stupid!"

Where could I run where nobody would find me? That was the problem with living on a tiny island! I ran to the beach and crouched against one of the cement barriers that prevented the town from eroding into the sea. I hated everything! I hated how cold it was, I hated the rain that was slapping me in the face, I hated my mother, but most of all I hated myself. How could I have been so stupid? I buried my face in my hands, hoping that I could take back everything I'd said. I prayed that she would still love me.

I grabbed some wet sand and threw it against the barrier, hoping for some satisfaction. Nothing. I huffed and stomped to the small boardwalk that led to the boathouse. Waves crashed against the edges of the walkway sending water spraying up into my face. It was strangely relieving. I tried the door which opened with a click. At least I would be dry. And hopefully alone.

I sat down, rubbing my arms and pulling in my legs for warmth. The boats bumped against each other from the waves that made their way under the building. The sound of the rain pattering heavily against the red tin roof was oddly calming and my anger towards my mother and myself melted away into a pool of self pity and remorse. I felt my chin quiver and a new wave of tears fell down my cheeks. "Stupid," I sobbed. "Why do I have to do this? I'm such a brat!"

"You did it again, didn't you," stated a voice from above, startling me half to death. Looking down from the boathouse loft was Sailor Stu's son, Mike Anglin, and, much to my horror, Jason Zen, my crush. I nodded my face burning with embarrassment.

Mike and Jason climbed down the ladder to the dock below. I buried my face in my arms and knees. How embarrassing! It would have been fine if it was just Mike, but Jason was just too much. I know I was being stupid. I've known both Mike and Jason my whole life but only just recently, I'd started noticing the way the sun shined on Jason's blonde hair and the way a dimple played across his left cheek when he laughed. Right now, he was frowning with a mixture of concern and discomfort, the dimple nowhere in sight. I was sure that I looked a right mess. I was soaked to the bone and my face always turned all red and blotchy when I cried. Jason's presence could only make things worse.

"Jenny," said Mike imploringly. "You guys do this every year. It'll be okay. Please stop crying."

"Yeah. You can hang out with us for a while," Jason said, trying to sound soothing. "We'll make you a hot chocolate…"

I shook my head furiously. What a disaster! I just wanted to be alone.

"What! Jenny's refusing food? Unheard of!" Mike gasped, mockingly. Without uncovering my face, I whipped a punch in his general direction. I was rewarded with a surprised "Owww Jenny! Right in the boob!"

I laughed in spite of myself. And once I started I couldn't stop. The boys stared at me in shock before laughing themselves, albeit slightly uneasily.

I kept laughing, even after they stopped. "I think you broke her…" Jason said.

"I-I-I can't breathe hahaha," I gasped, uncovering my face and leaning heavily against the wall, finally calming down.

"Girls are so weird," said Mike, looking wistfully up at the loft.

"What were you guys doing?" I asked.

"Playing cards," Jason said. "Wanna join."

I agreed and followed them up the ladder to the loft. They gave me a wool blanket and a hot chocolate and sat me next to the electric heater so before long, I was happy and toasty, momentarily forgetting all of the trouble I had caused.

After winning three rounds of Egyptian Rat Screw in a row, I decided to call it quits. The rain had quieted down to a slow drizzle.

"Thanks for cheering me up!" I said smiling at them as I turned towards the door.

"No problem. Any time you need us!" Jason stated as I turned and left.

What a weird dream! I thought as I woke up with a start. The memory had been so vivid. I tried to roll onto my side to get into a better sleeping position. My right arm jerked uncomfortably. I tried to move it, only to find that it was handcuffed to the bedpost.

Memories began to flood back into my disoriented mind as I remembered the man in black, the battle, the Venomoth. This wasn't my bed. I looked around the dark room.

The room was large yet cramped, with small windows on one wall, several dressers, another bed. Hotel room, I thought panicking. I sat up fully and noticed a person looking at me from the far side of the room. I balked and the person balked back. I sighed in relief. It was just my reflection.

Ugh, this was terrible! I tried to squeeze my hand through the handcuff, then pulled at it to no avail. I flipped over, bracing my feet against the wall and, gripping the cuff with my left hand so I wouldn't cut my right wrist, pulling my weight against the cuffs. I was rewarded with a loud _crack_ from the bedpost. It hadn't fully broken, but it had cracked at the thinner point near the top.

I was just congratulating myself when somebody burst into the room through the only exit. He flipped the lights on, temporarily blinding me, and looked at the damage I had caused from afar.

I eyed him uncertainly. It was a different man from the man in the black suit. He was much younger, with black hair ruffled from sleep, baggy blue boxers and a Rattata t-shirt.

"Who are-" I began uncertainly.

"Stupid girl," he muttered, flipping open his cell phone and placing a call.

He was quiet for a moment. I could hear a deep, angry voice on the other line.

"Yessir," he said into the phone. "She broke the bedpost, what should I do?"

He paused for some time, listening, before hanging up and leaving the room.

I was positive that I was dead. I yanked at the bedpost some more, hearing it crackle satisfyingly as the top of the beam further gave away. One last crack and I had it. Freedom! Adrenaline pumped through me as I slipped the cuff off of the broken post, leapt off the bed and to the door. I was half way down the fancy carpeted hall when a door opened right in front of me. The young man stared at me in surprise, a black leather bag gripped in his hand. I about faced and ran.

"NO!" I shouted as I felt his hand grasp my shoulder. I had barely made it twenty feet down the hallway. I spun around thrashing wildly, my cuffed hand swinging directly into his windpipe. He went down, gasping for breath. I ran up some stairs and found myself on a deck. I was on a ship! I ran to the edge planning to jump but I was too high up, the dark water splashing ominously fifty feet below me. I ran back and forth wildly looking for a life raft, a place to hide, a weapon, anything! But nothing presented itself except for seven large sailors who lumbered onto deck.

"Ahoy, Lassie," one of them called. I whimpered in fear. These guys were big and far too muscular. I ran but they quickly had me surrounded. I felt my hand grip the iron guard rail surrounding the deck but all thoughts of jumping left me as the clumped around me in a tight group. A solid wall of muscle. I felt my knees give way and I sunk down in surrender.

"We've got her," one of the sailors said into his walkie-talkie.

"Bring her back here," said the deep voice on the other end.

They pulled me up roughly by the arms but I found that my knees refused to support me. One of them picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder and carried me below deck. I didn't fight it. His grip on my legs was much too tight and I could feel his muscles flexing beneath me. This guy could have been half Machoke for all the muscles he had.

He turned into a room and I was dumped unceremoniously into a chair. I looked around in panic. Mirror, broken bedpost, I was in the same room that I had escaped from! But instead of being dark and empty, it was now full of people in black uniforms, a bright red R emblazoned across their chests. Sitting on the bed was the man in the black suit. He smiled sinisterly at me, running his hand over his perfectly slicked back hair.

"Welcome, Miss Jennifer Flint, to the SS Anne. Flagship of Team Rocket."


	4. Chapter 3: Team Rocket's Rocket

_**A/N: Here's chapter 3! I made it super long to make up for my three month absence from writing on this site. In fact, I think I've almost doubled my story in length! I'll try to be better next time.**  
_

_**Special thanks to JapaneseRockerGirl for your review :) I'm pretty sure I answer most, if not all of your questions in this chapter. It's great to know that people are actually reading my story  
**_

_**Please Please Please review! I thrive off praise but I thrive even more on constructive criticism! You know you want to :)  
**_

_**PS. I don't own Pokemon but if I did, I would be the very best trainer ever :)  
**_

_I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed, _I thought. My mind buzzed blankly knocking out all thoughts of reason and rationality and leaving only panic. "W-Who are you?" I asked stupidly, just for the sake of getting some words out there. A loud snort of laughter sounded from one of the men in uniform.

"Why, this may come as quite a shock to you, but we're Team Rocket," the man in the black suit spoke slowly as if I was a very dull and very tiresome little child. I stared at him blankly, trying to let it all sink in. I had heard about Team Rocket before on the news but the idea that they had been on Floe Island and that they were now carting me across the ocean to who knows where was just too much.

The suit guy took my lack of response for ignorance. "Is it possible that you have lived such an insular life that you have never heard of Team Rocket? How I pity your existence! We are poetry in motion! We are the darkness that engulfs all light! One day, the world will tremble at our feet as we wield the power of all Pokémon and humans alike! Right now, we work small petty crimes but they are all in an effort to meet our final goal: Take over the world using Pokémon!"

As if they had rehearsed it, every Rocket in the room chanted "Steal Pokémon for profit. Exploit Pokémon for profit. All Pokémon exist for the glory of Team Rocket."

"What do you want from me?" I asked, still trying to get over my stupid spell. "I'm not a Pokémon or a trainer…"

"True enough!" Suit Guy said, still marveling at the glory that was Team Rocket. "But your mother is! Not only is she one of the most powerful trainers of this day and age, but she also was entrusted with some information that could prove… invaluable to Team Rocket's cause. Ultimately, you're about as important as a Magikarp but I'm sure you understand why it was necessary to get you involved." His voice slithered silkily into my ears. I found it quite offensive.

"She'll never help you!" I growled indignantly, my eyes burning with hatred for the rotten, silky-voiced Suit Guy. My mom would kick all of their faces into the dirt. She would rather die than help these jerks out!

"Oh she will. You'll make sure of that," Suit Guy purred. He smoothed out an invisible crease in his suit. "I'm done indulging you with my presence. Men! Secure the girl! I don't want any more funny business. We'll be arriving in Vermillion in the morning. I need everyone in top shape so get some sleep while you can!" He turned on his heel and left.

The remaining Rockets were quiet for a moment. I fidgeted in my chair, wondering what they were going to do to 'secure' me. I felt very insecure indeed.

One of the Rockets stood up. He was a tall and weedy looking guy with a buzz cut that seemed to make his face look even longer than it was already. He stretched out his arms and yawned in an exaggerated fashion. "I'm butched!" he said. "Off to bed for me. Hey Noob!" he growled addressing the young man in the Rattata shirt that had chased me earlier. "Since you let the girl escape, I'm leaving it up to you to secure her. I'm giving you this chance to redeem yourself so you'd better do it right. No Mankey business, you hear?"

"Yes sir," Rattata T-shirt Guy sighed. He did not seem happy for this chance to redeem himself. He looked more tired than anything. We remained seated as the rest of the men filed out of the room and closed the door. To be honest, I thought about running right then and there, but the fact that we wouldn't hit land until morning was kind of enough to keep anyone from running. Where would I run to? I sighed and held my hands out in front of me, waiting to be handcuffed again.

He looked surprised. "What are you doing?"

"You're gonna cuff me, right?"

"Stupid girl," he mumbled. "You're the prisoner. I give the orders here. Umm… Lay down on the bed."

My eyes went wide. "I uh… No!" Visions of Law and Order: SVU danced through my head. I wasn't sure what he was planning, but I had watched enough crime TV to tell me that I should avoid getting on the bed at all costs.

"No?" he repeated, his eyebrows knitting together. He stood up and pointed. "Get on the bed."

"I don't want to!" I was panicking now. "Leave me alone!"

"Stupid…" he muttered. "Irritating…" He marched over to my chair, pulled me up by the elbow and pushed me onto the bed face first. He was surprisingly strong and I hardly had enough time to react. Tears stung my eyes as I braced myself for what was about to come.

And come it did not. Rattata T-shirt Guy stood over me, looking at my face in confusion. "I don't understand girls," he said. "One minute, you're perfectly willing to be tied up, the next minute, you're wailing that you don't want to. Listen. I don't want to have to hurt you. If it were up to me, we would have never captured you in the first place. So, you can let me tie you up or I can tie you up by force. Either way, I'm tying you up."

I lay still as he skillfully tied my hands behind my back with rope. Even so, I couldn't help but sobbing into to the blankets. He then wrapped me in the comforter like a cocoon, leaving only my head out and tied it off with rope at intervals. I was quite thoroughly trapped.

He left without another word, turning off the light as he left and locking the door behind him. I squirmed a little in vain before sobbing uncontrollably into the sheets. _This sucks so hard_, I thought. _Worst day ever._

When I did eventually fall asleep, I dreamt of home.

"Jenny, you are so unbelievably dumb!" Melanie Drake called to me from across Icefall Cave. Melanie had been born a month after I had and our parents had destined us to be best friends. Unfortunately, that had not worked out. We were bitter rivals in nearly everything we did.

Also unfortunate was the fact that Melanie was right this time. Rather than use my brain and listen to Melanie about a broad strip of ice that led into a sort of ditch, I had kept right on going and was now struggling to get up the slippery slope.

"Jenny, you really should get a Pokémon," Elsa called from next to Melanie. "It could help you when you do this kind of stuff." Mike and Jason merely laughed at me as I almost made it up but slipped on a slick patch at the last moment.

I cringed in disgust with myself. "A little help?" I called, admitting defeat.

Jason tossed out a Pokéball, releasing a large red and white Delibird. The bird Pokémon skated gracefully across the ice and attempted to push me out of my icy prison. Melanie laughed as I slipped, despite the help, and bowled the bird down. "Sorry Delibird!" I gasped. Jason didn't give his Pokémon nicknames. The Delibird shrugged and, using his claws as ice spikes, he pushed me out of the pit before I could get up and fall back in again.

My friends didn't let me live it down for the rest of the week. Melanie strutted around, telling everybody about how I didn't listen to her and fell into a pit. It was especially embarrassing when she told how I had to be pushed out bodily by a Delibird and how later, I had freaked out over a cute, cuddly Piloswine.

I was jolted awake from my sleepy, humiliating memory by a roar of laughter.

"Hahahaha! When the boss said 'secure the girl', that Noob really took him seriously!" a loud and masculine voice roared above me. The next thing I knew, I was rolled over onto my back, my arms crushed uncomfortably beneath me. "Haha! I gotta get a picture of this for the Rocket Yearbook!" The owner of the voice, one of the huge sailors from last night, pointed a camera at me a snapped a picture. I grimaced, imagining what else they might have in their yearbook.

"This might actually be good," he said and picked me up easily, tossing me over his shoulder blanket and all, like a sack of potatoes.

"Hey!" I protested, squirming uncomfortably. The sailor ignored me and carried me a short way down the hall while singing a nautical song about gutting a Goldeen. He brought me into a large room, probably the Captain's Quarters, and propped me up on a leather couch.

The room was filled with dark wooden furniture and books. Harpoons and anchors decorated the walls. A minute later, Suit Guy entered the room, smelling strongly of cologne and hair gel. "Oh Jennifer. You're up," he said as if it was perfectly normal for me to be tied up in a blanket and propped on a couch.

"I didn't have much of a choice," I glared daggers at him.

"Well, there are some choices in life that we just aren't able to make for ourselves," he said airily. What an idiot!

"Sir!" said a voice from the doorway. It was Rattata T-shirt Guy. He was wearing his full Team Rocket uniform, rather than his Rattata T-shirt. "Vermillion City has been sighted. We should be arriving within the next half hour."

"Oh excellent!" said Suit Guy. "I guess we should prep the prisoner then! Grab Sanchez and Harris and tell them I'm ready. They'll know what to do."

Rattata Shirt left with a "yes sir!" and Suit Guy sat down smugly at the desk, folding his hands primly on top of a stack of papers.

"What are you going to do with me?" I asked, timidly. Suit Guy smiled broadly.

"We're just going to throw you in a box for a little while. It's really no big deal. It's a good thing those stupid Grunts wrapped you up so tight. I feel like prepping you won't take as long as I thought."

The tall, weedy looking guy from the previous night appeared at the doorway, followed by a sturdy-looking woman with bulging biceps. Both saluted, and then proceeded to drag in a large wooden crate. My 'box' I presumed.

"Ah, here we are!" Suit Guy said. "You're looking quite chipper today. Harris, you know the drill. I want this one comfortable, but I don't want a peep coming from this box. Y' hear?"

The woman, apparently named Harris, flexed a bicep. "Yessir!" she shouted, army style.

"Very good. I'm going to make myself some coffee. She better be out of sight by the time I get back." Suit Guy left the room.

"Ugh, left to do the bosses' dirty work again," said the weedy looking guy who I deduced to be Sanchez. "I guess we should do this like the Saffron job, eh?"

"Yeah, that'll work," Harris said, a muscle in the corner of her mouth twitched, like she was trying to smile but couldn't.

Sanchez took a thick roll of silver duct tape from Suit Guy's desk. He pulled off a length of it before turning to me. "Suck in your lips of this will hurt more later," he said.

I did as I was told and he pressed the duct tape over my mouth. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Mmc…" was all I could manage. The Rockets guffawed loudly. I used to like duct tape. It was pretty rare on the island and great for fixing things, but now I was starting to reevaluate my opinions.

"Alright, enough fun. We should just get this over with," Sanchez said. I braced myself, not knowing what to expect as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pokéball. He pressed the button on the ball and released a bipedal yellow Pokémon with pointy ears and a large nose.

"Hypno," it announced in a drowsy sort of voice. It looked to its trainer for instructions.

"Hypno. Use Hypnosis on this girl. We need her sleeping for at least eight hours," Sanchez said.

The Hypno stepped in front of me and began swinging its pendulum. I quickly averted my eyes, having learned in school that Hypno required eye contact to work its hypnosis. Harris got behind me and forced my head forward so that I was staring straight at the Hypno. Our eyes locked and my mind went blank. Time seemed to slow down and nothing else mattered except for Hypno's drowsy looking eyes and the pendulum swinging in slow motion in front of my face. I felt my entire body relax as I stared into the dark depths of Hypno's eyes. My own eyes drooped and I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

I woke up in a blindingly bright room. I was slumped over uncomfortably in an office chair, my wrists bound tightly through its back and my ankles bound to the support column above the wheeled base. My blanket was gone but the duct tape still covered my mouth. I blinked rapidly, trying to get used to the harsh light, the sound of my own heartbeat pulsing through my ears.

The walls were draped in white sheets and white plaster covered the floor and ceiling. A long, uncovered fluorescent light bulb burned into my retinas when I looked up. I turned to the right and found myself face to face with the lens of a camera, its shiny black metal contrasting eerily with the blinding white room.

I looked away from the camera, squirming uncomfortably. I was being taped! I'm not sure why but this made me feel extremely humiliated. I shoved my weight forward, propelling my chair jerkily across the floor, away from the camera's sight.

An unseen door opened behind one of the sheets. I tensed up not knowing what to expect. It wasn't long before one of the sheets was pushed aside. Harris came in, her muscles rippling though her Team Rocket jacket. Without a word, she pushed me back into the center of the room but flipped off the camera and took it with her through the curtain. I sighed in relief. I always hated being videotaped.

I wasn't left alone for long though. I heard the door click again and both Harris and Sanchez appeared this time. "Are you enjoying your new home?" Sanchez asked, tauntingly.

I glared up at him. "Mmm hmmkmm mmffhmmm," I said to him defiantly. Apparently, my words did not have quite the effect that I had hoped. Sanchez merely smirked at me as Harris flexed her muscles in the corner.

"Now," Sanchez said. "We are going to help you send a message to your dear old mommy. If you do a good job, you may even go home unscathed. If not, well, the punishments for that will be very painful and will ultimately lead to your death. I'm sure that's something you wouldn't want." His voice dripped off his tongue like poison. I shuddered.

"Good. That's what I thought," he said, taking in my fear and assuming that I would comply. He took his walkie-talkie off of his belt. "She's ready."

A minute later the door clicked and the curtain was pulled completely to one side, revealing a small yellow room and what I recognized to be a big-screen video chat console. Suit Guy strode in through a door to the left. He hardly even acknowledged me as Harris pushed me out of sight, behind the now pulled back curtain.

"Hello? This is Lorelei of the Elite Four." My heart leapt as my mother's voice met my ears. I felt all of the blood drain from my face and tears prick at the corners of my eyes. I couldn't believe that this was actually happening.

"Good evening, Lorelei Flint. My name is Carl Lancaster of Team Rocket. I trust that you know who we are?" Suit Guy, or apparently Carl, said pleasantly.

"What the hell do you want?" I heard my mom growl. Of course she knew who Team Rocket was! They were practically the bane of every trainer's existence!

"No need to be snappy, I'm only having a pleasant chat with you. But if you really do insist on getting straight to the point, Team Rocket has recently obtained some information that you have some knowledge of the whereabouts of the Silver Wing and the rare Pokémon with which it is connected. We insist that you give us this information."

"Over my dead body!" My mom shouted. "Why the hell would I give you that?"

"We also ask that you surrender yourself over to Team Rocket. We have great use of your power in our executive branch."

"Whaaat?!" My mom sounded flustered. "Is this some kind of joke? How the hell do you get off on saying that? There is no way that I would ever do any of that stuff. Ever."

I knew my mom. She was thinking about hanging up the phone on this guy but she was getting up the courage to do it. She was the type who would talk to telemarketers for hours before finally hanging up on them. But this guy was truly annoying her. If this guy, Carl, didn't act fast, he would get an earful of dial tone.

"Lorelei, do hear me out!" Carl pleaded pleasantly. "If you ever want to see your beautiful daughter Jennifer again, you will at least listen to me."

There was silence on the other line. I thought for sure that she had hung up. "J- You have Jenny?" Her voice cracked with emotion before disbelief gripped her thoughts. I guess that she hadn't heard about my kidnapping yet. "I don't believe you," she growled.

"Harris," Carl grunted. Harris pushed me out from the behind the curtain and faced me towards the screen. I fought back tears while trying to look strong and defiant. I failed miserably at both as soon as I saw my mother on the screen, her grey eyes full of shock and despair.

"Jenny!" my mom gasped.

"Mmmm," I called to her through my duct tape, tears flowing freely down my cheeks.

"Please! I'll do anything! Just don't hurt my daughter!" Her eyes overflowed with tears.

"Good girl. I knew you'd come around," Carl said, his voice still pleasant as if he were praising a small child rather than threatening one of the most powerful trainers in Kanto. "We will meet in two days outside of Diglett's Cave on the Viridian City entrance at precisely 7:45 pm. You will come alone, of course, and you will tell no one. Do not tell anyone where you are going or that you are leaving. If I get word that you have done otherwise, you will never see young Jennifer again. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes." Lorelei's head sagged in resignation. "I-I'll be there. Anything else?"

"That is all. I look forward to your full cooperation," said Carl.

"Jenny! I lo-" my mom started to say before Carl disconnected the chat console.

"Your mother is such an obliging young woman! I knew she'd see things my way!" Carl said with a smile.

I began to sob hysterically. My mom was going to give up everything that she had ever worked for and valued, just to save me. I was so stupid for having gotten into this mess. I felt so bad! My nose ran uncontrollably, clogging my ability to breathe. How humiliating! What an awful way to die, I thought to myself as I suffocated on my own snot. Black spots clouded my vision and I let myself slump forward in the chair, my throat making a strange clicking noise. My head felt like it was going to explode.

My story would have ended there had it not been for Sanchez. He leapt forward and tore the duct tape off of my mouth. I gasped for breathe, the black spots disappearing but leaving me with an intense headache. I heard some yelling and bustling around. Someone poured something down my throat and I fell asleep almost instantly.

I felt awful, unsteady and miserable when I woke up. I was still in the office chair in the white room. The sheet had been pulled back into place so I was once again surrounded by white. My mouth, at least, was free, but I was so dehydrated that I could hardly talk. Plus, my mom was going to join Team Rocket and it was all my fault! I cried for what felt like hours, my sobs coming out like strangled croaks. Nobody came to check on me but I was perfectly okay with that. What a horrible day! Or days? I couldn't be sure anymore.

The door clicked open. They were finally checking on me. Maybe they would feed me. I realized that I hadn't eaten since I was captured.

The curtain swayed before my eyes and a boy's face swam into view.

"Who are you?" I croaked, nervously. The boy couldn't have been older than 13. He was wearing a red vest over a black shirt and a red and white Pokémon League baseball cap covering his messy black hair; obviously not a Rocket.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" the boy gasped. I must have looked like a real mess. He took a pocket knife from his backpack and got to work cutting off my binds.

"Who are you?" I repeated. I couldn't believe that this was actually happening. How had the boy gotten in with all this Rocket security?

"I'm John," the kid said. "Can you stand?"

"I think so," I said. I tried to get up but my head swam and my ankles gave from being tied up for so long. I fell to the floor, my knees striking the ground painfully.

"I'm so sorry," I croaked, tears burning my eyes. My stomach growled angrily.

"Oh!" John exclaimed. He dug through his bag and pulled out an energy bar and a bottle of water. "Eat it slowly or you'll get sick," he warned before giving them to me.

I really tried to follow his directions but my body desperately wanted the food and I ate a little faster than I should have. I still felt better than I had though.

"Listen," John said after I was finished. "I won't be able to take you out of here and I really can't stay here. I have to keep going and defeat the Rocket boss here. Apparently, he's taken the people of Silph Co. hostage and I think I can save them."

"What?" I gasped. My voice sounded much less croaky than it did. "What's Silph Co.?"

"Silph Co. in Saffron City? Where you are? Who are you?" he asked, like I should know this kind of stuff already.

"I'm Jenny," I said. "I'm not from around here…"

"Anyways…" John continued. "I can't personally get you out of here but I thought long and hard about it. I think I have a way that you could get out of here without getting caught." He handed me a Pokéball.

"What's this?"

"It's an Abra," John explained. "The only move it knows is Teleport. I caught it right before I came here to help so I really haven't had time to train it. All you have to do is picture where you want to go and he'll teleport you safely there. His name is Harry."

"Harry?" I said. Oh great, another trainer who names his Pokémon people names, I thought.

"Yeah! Like Harry Houdini!" John said excitedly. "I like to name my Pokémon after people I look up to! It's kind of cool because Houdini was a master escapist and he's helping you escape!" He shot me a huge grin.

"Oh well thanks so much, John!" I said, taking the Pokéball. Even if it meant relying on Pokémon, I would do anything to get out of here. I would get this Abra to teleport to the Indigo Plateau so I could tell my mom I was safe and she didn't have to join Team Rocket!

"Wish me luck!" John said and he grinned and disappeared behind the curtain. I wondered if I would ever see him again.

"Good luck," I called after him. The door clicked shut and John was gone.

"He's really brave," I said to my new Pokéball. "Alright, Harry! Let's get out of here!" I pushed the button on my Pokéball. Hope surged through me as it opened up and with a flash of red light, a little Abra appeared next to me.

I picked up the little psychic Pokémon. He was surprisingly heavy for something so small. "Harry, Teleport to the Indigo Plateau!" I commanded. Nothing happened. The Abra let out a little snore. "Dammit, Harry!" I said, shaking the little Psi Pokémon. This is why I hated Pokémon! "Wake up!"

"I guess I'll just have to get out of here on my own," I said to the Abra. "I'll keep you out, just in case you decide to wake up." I put his Pokéball in my pocket and made my way through the curtain and out the door.

The hallway was long and narrow with green walls and yellow floor tiles. I could hear the sounds of intense Pokémon battles somewhere upstairs. I made my way as quietly as I could down the hall, hoping for a way out. I turned a corner and to my great surprise and relief, there was a staircase! I felt so blessed! Maybe I wouldn't have to use this cursed little Abra to get out of here after all. I dashed down the stairs, almost running headlong into a Rocket Grunt.

"Hey!" he shouted. It was Rattata T-shirt Guy! "What are you doing? Where'd you get that Pokémon?" He reached for the Pokéballs on his belt. "I can't let you leave," he said, tossing the ball. In a flash of red light, a huge rock Pokémon burst forward, pawing at the ground and rearing to battle.

"Rhyhorn!" it growled, showing off its sharp white teeth. I was shocked! I had half expected a Rattata!

"Rhyhorn! Use Horn Attack!" Rattata T-shirt Guy shouted. The Rhyhorn charged up the stairs.

"Please, Harry!" I cried, hugging the Abra tightly to my chest as I stumbled awkwardly back up the stairs. "Please! Teleport! They're gonna kill us!"

Rhyhorn was getting closer by the second. The stairs were making it hard for him to get there at full speed. I tripped over the last stair, smashing my kneecap and elbow onto the floor as I went down. The Abra in my arms suddenly grew warm. A soft pink light enveloped us. I felt myself spinning rapidly as we successfully teleported out of danger and away from Team Rocket.

**_A/N: Wow... I really beat the shit out of poor Jenny today... Will definitely make it up to her in the future... Probably... Furthermore, Team Rocket really needs to be more creative about how they shut people up. How many times has Jenny been put to sleep so far in this chapter alone? Goodness, Team Rocket! Way to be lame!_**


	5. Chapter 4: Criminals

**Author's Note: I've decided that I'm going to try to write at least a chapter a month. Yay! I actually kind of have an idea as to where this story is going now so hopefully it won't be as disorganized as before. Thanks again to japaneserockergirl for your review! I tried to pay a bit more attention to the descriptions and such, although some of it is still admittedly sparse :) Feel free to point out all of my flaws. I want to get better at writing :)**

The spinning lasted only a few seconds but by the time it was over, I felt dizzier than I'd ever felt in my life. My feet hit the ground hard, the rest of my body quickly following suit. My head pounded and my vision whirled. I closed my eyes and rested my cheek on the paved ground, hoping to clear my head. I could hear people nearby. Lots of them. The air smelled dusty and stale. I cracked my eyes open just a bit. My vision tilted upward with dizziness but I found that I could focus if I tried. When I was younger, my friends and I would have spinning contests to see who could spin around for the longest amount of time. I felt like this was a time when all that training gave me an edge in recovery.

As I focused my eyes in the dim light, a garbage can swam into view right in front of my face. I unsteadily lifted myself up onto my elbows. I was in a dark alley, the tall buildings towering high over my head. Dirt and trash littered the ground and sunlight shone brightly at the ends of the buildings, revealing groups of people bustling past. This was definitely not the Indigo Plateau, so where was I?

I got unsteadily to my feet. Harry reclined against a garbage can nearby, snoozing lazily as if he had never woken up. "Useless," I muttered to him as I picked him up. "Harry! Please Teleport me somewhere I know! The Indigo Plateau or Floe Island! Please! I just want to go home," I begged the sleeping Abra. Harry simply snoozed away.

I could feel tears biting at my eyes but I had to be strong. I wasn't about to sit in this alley by myself and cry like a baby! I needed to get in touch with my mom! Anyways, I had always wanted to go to the city and here I was. I just wasn't certain of what city I was in…

I pressed the button on Harry's Pokéball, recalling him back inside and inched my way towards the bright end of the alley. I hesitated. I had never been on the mainland before. Even though I had desperately wanted to visit the Indigo Plateau and all of the great cities of Kanto, I had never been given the opportunity. I could feel fear creeping into my resolve. For some strange reason, I felt safe in this alley. Who knows where I was and where I would end up. And what if Team Rocket was out there looking for me?

My stomach growled. I couldn't stay in this alley forever! I took a deep breath and took my first steps into the city.

As soon as I stepped out into the sun, I wanted to run back into the safety of the alley with my trash cans.

I looked around hopelessly. I had never seen so many people in one place before. The buildings were tall and foreboding. Sunlight glared off their numerous windows, momentarily blinding me. I put my hand out to block the glare but was knocked off kilter by a woman in a pants suit.

"Hey! Watch it!" she shouted bad-naturedly before hurrying off. I was too shocked to respond. People were never this rude on Floe Island!

"Oh my goodness! I saw what happened!" a tall man in a grey suit exclaimed, pulling himself out from the crowd. He spoke with an unfamiliar accent. "Some people are so rude to the homeless! It makes me sick!"

"But I'm not-," I started but he just spoke over me.

"Here. Buy yourself a Burger-chu," he said, stuffing money into my hands and gesturing across the street to a tacky looking fast food restaurant called Pika-Chew's. Before I could react, the man had disappeared back into the rush.

"Th-thanks," I muttered to his quickly disappearing back. He thought I was homeless? I looked down at myself and sure enough, I was a real mess. My clothes were covered in dirt from the alley and my knees and palms were scraped and bloody. All of the adrenaline that had previously blocked out the pain before suddenly disappeared. My whole body felt sore and exhausted and I could feel every scrape and cut like they were burning pokers searing through my skin. Hot tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I staggered across the street. Food sounded good just then.

A tiny bell jingled as I opened the door to the fast food restaurant and I was buffeted by the smell of cooking grease. My stomach growled and twisted uncomfortably.

I meandered up to the counter. The girl standing behind it stared at me, a disinterested expression on her face. She had blue eyes and short dark hair and a 'get the hell away from me' attitude. "Welcome to Pika-Chew's, can I take your order," she said in a bored, monotonous voice. Her strange accent matched the man from the street and she was chewing on some gum sidelong, like a Miltank chews its cud.

"Uh…" I said stupidly, looking up at the menu. It seemed too overwhelming. "I'll have a Burger-chu…" I said uncertainly, trailing off.

"Do you want fries with that?" she said, wrinkling her nose at me.

"Uh, how much would that be?" I asked glancing down at the five dollar bill clenched in my hand.

"Burger-chu combo is $3.99," she said, looking down at me like I was something indecent.

"Sure. Yeah. I'll have that," I said, shuffling in my sneakers.

She poked some buttons on her cash register and I handed her my five. She took it from me with her thumb and forefinger and popped it into the register, giving me back my change and being careful not to touch me.

_Am I really that filthy?_ I thought to myself as I received my food.

I walked shakily to a table next to the bathroom, out of sight from the girl at the register. _My first fast food meal ever_, I thought to myself feeling slightly giddy. I unwrapped my burger, thinking that I would savor every bite. My burger was gone before I could taste it. I reached for my fries, thinking that I would enjoy them now that I had wolfed down my burger but they too were quickly gone.

_Oh well_, I thought, getting up from the chair and moving towards the bathroom. I may as well use it to freshen up.

I gasped when I saw myself in the bathroom mirror. I was filthy and my red hair curled wildly in every direction. I pulled my hair back into the neatest ponytail I could muster, thanking Arcaeus that I had put a hair elastic on my wrist before I climbed Mt. Floe with Elsa. I washed off the best that I could in the small sinks, the liquid soap stinging at my scrapes, and managed to leave the bathroom significantly more presentable than I had been before. I now looked like a slightly dirty child rather than a homeless person.

Feeling rather shy, I forced myself back up to the front counter.

"Welcome to Pika-Chew's, can I take your order?" the girl recited hardly looking at me.

"I'm sorry, I'm lost," I said. "Can you tell me where I am?"

"You're on 15th Street in the Business District," she said, observing her fingernails.

"Silly question, but what city is this?" I felt myself blushing and smiled uncertainly.

The girl looked up at me, her blue eyes narrowed to see if I was joking or not. I stretched out my smile into an apologetic grimace.

"I had a teleportation mishap, you see…" I explained, trailing off.

"Weird accent you got there," the girl said in her own weird accent. "You're in Goldenrod City."

"Thanks… Do you know where I could use a phone?" I said.

"There's a Pokémon Center on 12th. They have free phones. Just take a right out of the store and a left when you hit Main Street."

"Thanks so much for your help!" I said, smiling awkwardly at her before leaving the Pika-Chew's.

The streets were much emptier than they had been before. I must have teleported during the lunch rush. I made my way towards the Pokémon Center, feeling energized. I would ask them if I could use their phone and then I would call my mom to let her know I was okay! Everything was going to work out just fine!

I got to the Pokémon Center already feeling victorious. The red haired woman at the front desk looked at me with a smile. "Hi, I'm Nurse Joy! How can I help you?" She said cheerily.

"Hi, I'm Jenny," I said with a laugh. "I was wondering if I could use a phone?"

"Of course! The phones are right over there, dear," she said pointing to a row of video phones on the wall to the right, just past a TV and row of couches.

I walked up to one and shakily dialed my mother's number at the Indigo Plateau. The phone rang five times before the answering machine picked up. "Hello, you've reached Lorelei of the Elite Four. I'm not available to speak at the moment, but please leave your name, number, and business and I will be sure to contact you as soon as I can. Thanks," my mother's voice recited, sounding calm and professional.

"Mom?" I began. "It's me. Jenny. I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay! You don't need to go see Team Rocket because I've escaped and I'm fine. Hopefully you haven't already left…" I paused, uncertain of what else to say. "I'll try calling again later. I love you! I hope to see you soon!"

I hung up. Where was she? Was it possible that she had already left? It was only 1:22 pm. Maybe she was training her Pokémon or doing important Indigo Plateau business. I cursed myself for not memorizing the number to the Indigo Plateau office.

I decided to try some of my friends on Floe Island next. I called Elsa's number first but all I received was busy signal. _She must be on the phone with someone else_, I thought to myself. I then tried the Crick's Daycare Center. They would surely answer! Once again, it was busy. _Well this is strange…_ I thought to myself as I dialed Melanie's number. Busy signal again. My hands began to shake as I went through the list of phone numbers I knew. Each one greeted me with a busy signal. Something weird was going on and I would be willing to bet everything I owned that Team Rocket was behind it.

I threw myself onto one of the couches in frustration. This was not going the way I had hoped. My stomach began to churn from all that fast food and stress. I felt exhausted and out of moves. Out of desperation, I reached into my pocket for Harry's Pokéball and let him out. He sat on the couch next to me, not even bothering to wake up.

"Harry," I called to him softly. "Harry, wake up." I tried to sound inviting. Maybe he'd wake up if I was nice to him.

I got bored of that sentiment quite quickly and began to tap him on the bottoms of his feet. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that this was an effective way to wake up babies. Unfortunately, this did not apply to Abras because Harry didn't even snore.

I tried everything to wake up that darn Abra! I poked him hard in the stomach, I blew into his ears, I clapped my hands together in front of his face, I even picked him up and shook him. It all started to feel abusive so I slumped back down on the couch and tried not to cry. _This is no time to panic_, I told myself. I decided to focus on the TV on the wall behind me and was surprised to see my mother staring back at me from the screen.

"…Four Lorelei was reported missing earlier today," a reporter's chipper voice said through the soft volume of the speakers. I had to strain my ears in order to properly hear what she said.

"Her disappearance is thought to be in connection to the disappearance of her daughter, Jennifer Flint of the Sevii Islands, who has reportedly left her island home to join Team Rocket."

My jaw dropped. Did she just say what I thought she just said?

"We interviewed residents on Four Island for an inside scoop of this case." The screen flipped to the face of a man I recognized well. It was Rattata T-Shirt Guy! "Mike Anglin, Four Island Resident" read the screen beneath his face. _That _was definitely not Mike Anglin.

"Jenny never got along with Lorelei," Fake Mike explained to the reporter. They stood just in front of my house! "She hated her because she never gave her any attention and so she aspired to become a powerful trainer so she could beat her mom one day. She disappeared from here about a week ago? She said something about getting revenge on Lorelei. I hope their okay…" Rattata T-Shirt Guy looked sincerely worried. I felt the blood rise up into my face with anger and quickly made sure that nobody else in the Center was paying attention to the TV.

They switched screens to another "eyewitness" labeled "Elsa Tutor, Four Island Resident and Best Friend of Subject". The woman on the screen was too old and fair-haired to be Elsa. I ground my teeth together in anger as Fake Elsa said, "Before she left, Jenny told me that she was going to join Team Rocket. I didn't believe her but before I knew it, she was gone! Jenny, if you're watching this, please come home. We miss you!" Fake Elsa looked tearfully into the camera and they cut to a photo of my face shown in a split screen with my mother's.

"If you have any information concerning the whereabouts of these women, please notify police immediately. Jennifer Flint is at large and potentially dangerous. She is thought to have connections to the notorious crime group, Team Rocket…"

I couldn't listen anymore. Team Rocket was setting me up. And they were impersonating my friends! What was I supposed to do now?

I picked up Harry and shook him desperately. "Wake up! Wake up, you stupid Abra!" I growled at him, angry tears coursing down my cheeks. I was just so frustrated! I needed to get out of there!

"Are you okay?" I looked up to see a tall boy with impeccably neat hair and sporty clothes. He shuffled uncomfortably when he saw the tears on my cheeks and averted his concerned hazel eyes to his muddy sneakers.

I decided to keep a brave face. "I'm fine," I said, my voice cracked awkwardly as I spoke. I bit my lip to keep from falling apart. The boy looked at me uncertainly, probably evaluating my 'fineness'. It was probably pretty obvious that I wasn't okay. "I'm really fine," I said before breaking down into tears again. Sometimes, I really hated myself for being so weak. I buried my face in my hands, trying to hide my crying self.

"Paul. What did you do?" asked a female voice in front of me.

"I just asked if she was okay…" said the boy quietly. "She was like this when I got here."

There was a pause before I felt the girl sit down next to me and rub my back comfortingly. "It'll be okay," she said soothingly. "I don't know what this idiot did, but you don't have to take him so seriously."

"I'm fine," I said, trying to recollect my composure. "He really didn't do anything. I just kind of got a little overwhelmed, that's all." I looked up at the girl to show her how earnest I was.

The girl gave me a concerned, closed mouthed smile. She had flawless cinnamon colored skin and dark curly hair, pulled back into a low ponytail. Her dark green eyes looked restless despite her concern, like she didn't like to sit for a long time. "I'm Katie Wimbledon," she said. "Are you here with anyone?"

"I'm J-Jenny," I said, shaking my head tearfully. Her soothing voice seemed to calm me down a little. It felt like she was on my side, which was nice after the events of past couple days.

"Is this your first time travelling alone?" she asked, looking suddenly understanding.

I nodded again, not quite sure of what she was getting at.

"Aw!" Katie cooed. "No wonder you're so upset! I remember the first time I travelled alone! I didn't cry, or let people touch me, but it was still really scary… Ah, nostalgia."

"Katie," Paul cut in. "That was a month ago. And you didn't seem scared at all when you bowled into me with your Houndour and demanded a battle."

"And we've been together ever since!" Katie said mockingly. "Paul? Can I talk to you alone for a sec?" she asked, getting up and gesturing across the room. "Stay here," she said to me.

I leaned back into the couch as I watched them converse across the room. Katie appeared to be dominating the conversation with her slightly wild hand gestures and upfront attitude. Paul seemed reserved and skeptical at first but he seemed to lose whatever argument they had when Katie marched over looking triumphant.

"Jenny! We've decided to keep you!" she exclaimed happily. I looked at her in shock. Keep me?

"What she means is, you can travel with us if you want," Paul cut in quickly. "We both know how stressful it can be to travel alone and based on the way you were handling that Abra, you're a complete beginner. We could help."

"There's kind of somewhere I have to go," I mumbled.

"Where's that?" Katie asked. "Maybe we're going in the same direction."

I smiled reluctantly. Where was it that I wanted to go? I really wanted to go back home, but that they seemed to have fallen under Team Rocket's control. I could go back to Team Rocket's lair and confront them, but I wasn't really sure exactly where that was since I had teleported out of there. Plus, I couldn't really see any benefit from that since I didn't know the first thing about Pokémon battling. It seemed like my best bet was to go to the Indigo Plateau and tell the remainder of the Elite Four just what had happened. Maybe they would rally together to save Lorelei. She was their colleague after all.

"The Indigo Plateau," I said quietly. Katie laughed uproariously. Even Paul cracked a smile.

"You can't be serious!" Katie wheezed. "You really are a noob! Do you even have any badges?"

I felt myself blush. "I'm not going there to battle."

"Well, only trainers with eight badges can even think about going through Victory Road!" Katie laughed.

"I-I just need to talk to them…" I said quietly. Doubts started to cloud my mind. Should I trust these two random people that I had just met? What if they were somehow tied to Team Rocket. Maybe they had tracked me through the phone calls I had just made and Paul and Katie were actually members of Team Rocket. What if they weren't related to Team Rocket at all but believed what the news said and turned me in?

"Maybe I should just go," I said wearily. "Do you know the fastest way to the Indigo Plateau from here?"

"You'll never make it by yourself!" Katie argued. "It's a suicide mission! And just why are you going there anyway? I don't really buy your 'just need to talk' story!"

"I don't- I can't-," I stammered nervously. "Just tell me the directions and I'll be out of your hair! It's a matter of life or death!" I slumped heavily onto the couch feeling like I had just run a marathon.

"We'll go with you!" Paul exclaimed suddenly, blushing.

"We will?" Katie gasped, shocked.

"W-well, at least until Victory Road… Then we'll have to reevaluate our situation," Paul mumbled, fidgeting wildly with the hem of his t-shirt. His face was bright red.

"Paul! Do you know what you just said?" Katie asked, horrified. "What happened to the down-to-earth Paul from ten minutes ago?"

"Look how helpless she is…" Paul said. "I'm going with her. If you don't want to that's fine."

Katie heaved out a defeated sigh. "Fine I'll go," she said finally. "But if we die, I'm blaming you, Paul."


	6. Chapter 5: Dance of the Ledyba

**Author's Note: Happy New Year! As a person who has a very skewed Think/Do ratio (I'm roughly 95% think, 5% do), I have decided not to make any New Years Resolutions this year because New Years Resolutions are meant to be broken. Instead, I am making lots of short term life goals that will ultimately lead to maybe what may have been my Resolution. Instead of saying "I'm going to stop being a loser," I'm going to say things like, "I'm gonna get a job," and "I'm going to paint a dinosaur tomorrow." I get a little overwhelmed by short term life goals so I really have to throw in nice things like painting dinosaurs to make me feel better. I have a checklist :) **

**Thanks for all who reviewed (e.g. japaneserockergirl). I take your reviews very seriously. Thanks for your support :)  
**

**********Anywho, now that I've effectively scared away all of my readers, please enjoy the following chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. If I did, I would probably have six ponies and a camel by now. And a T-Rex skeleton in the foyer of my giant mansion.  
**

"Buuuaaaahhhh," Katie yawned, stretching her long arms exaggeratedly, as we trekked around Goldenrod National Park on our way to Violet City. It was still dark out on Route 35 but Paul had been adamant about leaving the Pokémon Center's Trainer Bunks early, muttering something about Ledyba and their morning rituals. This actually suited me quite well, considering the minor detail that I was now supposedly a wanted criminal and had not yet mustered up the guts to tell my new found friends said minor detail for fear of abandonment. The right time just hadn't come up.

"I still can't believe I'm up this early!" Katie said loudly. "If I was still on my own, I'd still be in bed! Sometimes I wonder if it was a smart idea to team up with you, Paul."

Paul said nothing.

"Anyway," drawled Katie, bored from Paul's lack of reaction. "When we run into a Pokémon, I want to see you battle, Jenny."

"What?" My voice went up an octave higher than it is usually. "I don't really battle…"

Paul stopped short, holding a finger to his mouth before pointing down the route ahead of us. I squinted ahead in the meager light. A small, purple Pokémon stood on the path ahead of us. It stood perfectly still in a defensive stance, its large spiny ears at attention assessing if we were a threat.

"Perfect!" Katie whispered excitedly, pushing me forward. "Great timing! Jenny, now's your chance! Show us what you got!"

I stared at her feeling stupid. "Send out your Abra," she said, gesturing towards the little Pokémon, who was now kicking up dirt with his front foot in a threatening manner.

Hesitantly, I reached into my pocket, pulling out Harry's Pokéball. I had seen my friends do this hundreds of times. There was no reason at all why I couldn't too! I tossed the ball and with a flash of red light, out popped Harry. To my utmost shock, he was awake. He looked at me inquisitively.

"Nido Nidoran!" the Pokémon across the way growled wildly. It charged, hitting Harry hard with a powerful blow with its head. Harry staggered, glaring at me for directions.

"Wh-what do I do now?" I stammered. "I don't even know any of his moves…"

Katie stared at me incredulously. "Seriously?" she asked. I nodded, feeling numb. With a look of minor annoyance, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small red device. "He only knows Teleport. You can't really win a battle with that. Here, I got this, don't worry about it."

"Go Bitey!" Katie called out enthusiastically as she threw one of her own Pokéballs. A sturdy looking black dog Pokémon with small pointy ears and white stripes popped out. It howled fiercely, glaring at its opponent directly in the eyes. The Nidoran took a step back, looking suddenly unsure of himself.

"Bitey! Use Ember!"

"Houndour!" Bitey barked dangerously, dodging a stumbling Tackle from its opponent as it heaved in a great breath of air. It held its breath for a second before releasing a well aimed burst of flame.

The Nidoran staggered backward, getting a face full of fire. Rather than turning tail and running, like any logical person would have done, he only seemed to get angrier. He lowered his head, aiming a vicious horn attack right into the Houndour's flank. Bitey saw the move coming and pivoted instinctively away from the Nidoran's horn, thus lessening the impact of the attack while keeping its eyes on its opponent. The Nidoran stumbled off balance, taking a few seconds to stagger back to its feet.

"Great job, Bitey! Now finish it off with a Bite!" Katie called, her eyes glowing in excitement. I watched in awe as the Houndour leapt forward, grabbing the Nidoran on the shoulder with its strong jaws.

The Nidoran let out a little squeak of pain before fainting.

"Good girl, Bitey!" Katie squealed to her Houndour, squatting down and opening her arms to hug her Pokémon. Bitey barked happily and leapt into her arms, licking her face.

"You've really never battled before?" Paul asked, frowning as he watched Katie showering her Houndour with praise.

I shook my head, tightening my mouth and looking down at Harry. The Abra quickly averted its gaze out of contempt.

"We thought that maybe you were stronger than you seemed," Paul commented. "I mean, you have a weird Kanto accent so I figured you must have travelled a long way to get here."

"I did," I said. "I had a teleporting accident. Listen, I don't really want to talk about it." I felt my throat start to tighten.

Paul seemed to pick up on my sadness. "Hey, don't feel bad," he started to rummage in his red backpack. "How about I teach your Abra a new move so you can battle with him?"

"Really? You would do that?" I asked surprised.

"Sure! I won this TM back in Ecruteak," he took a purple disk and a small device out of his bag. "My Pokémon don't really need this kind of move so it's been floating around in my bag for a while." Paul inserted the disc into the device and handed it to me. "Just get your Abra's attention and press the power button so the machine's pointing at his head."

I did as I was told. Harry tried to dodge out of the way, even teleporting behind me before I finally got him to look at the Technical Machine. Once I finally got his attention, I pressed the power button. The machine began to whir in my hands, sending out a beam of purple light at Harry, who stood positively transfixed.

I gripped the machine tightly as it bathed Harry in the purple light of knowledge. Suddenly, a sharp crack issued from the TM and the light guttered out. Harry was pulled out of his reverie, his eyes glowing an eerie blue. He put his clawed hands out in front of him, collecting what looked like a miniature black hole.

"Wow, that's pretty cool," I breathed. Harry's eyes flashed and released the ball, sending it flying in my direction.

"Harry!" I shouted, leaping out of the way just in time and landing in a heap next to Paul, Katie and Bitey laughing hysterically behind him.

"Well, that's Shadow Ball," Paul said impassively. "It's a Ghost-Type move so it won't work on any Normal-Type Pokémon like Pidgey."

"Does Jenny count as a Normal-Type?" Katie asked cracking up.

I glared at her, still gasping for breath. I was stupid to think I could ever train a Pokémon! They hated me! I had seen my friends catch and train Pokémon like it was nothing and their Pokémon had never turned on them as senselessly as Harry had.

"You didn't catch that Pokémon yourself though," Katie said. "I noticed that Harry originally belonged to a trainer named John. Traded Pokémon usually don't warm up to their new trainers right away so don't feel bad about that."

"How do you know about John?" I asked, my suspicions rising. Were Katie and Paul with Team Rocket after all?

"Oh, I saw it on my Pokédex," Katie said blushing. "I thought you had noticed."

"A Poké-what?" My ignorance was greeted by incredulous stares from both Paul and Katie.

"It's a handheld database for Pokémon," Katie explained looking thoroughly taken aback. "It allows me to look up and record data on different Pokémon species as well as check the stats on individual Pokémon."

"That's pretty cool," I said, feeling impressed. "Where can I get one of those?"

Katie and Paul exchanged looks and started laughing. "You're like an alien!" Katie gasped between laughs. "Where exactly are you from again?"

"Listen," Paul intervened. "Katie was chosen by Professor Oak to help him with his Pokémon research. Only kids who show great promise are given a Pokédex and a rare and powerful Pokémon to help them on their journey. Kids take an aptitude test all over Kanto and Johto to see if they are qualified. That's how little Katie Wimbledon of Cherrygrove City became a Cho-…"

"Shut up, Paul! You're embarrassing me!" Katie squealed, pushing Paul playfully.

"Hey!" Paul laughed. "It's true though! That's what people call you crazy Dex-Holders these days! You're a Chosen One."

Katie blushed furiously. "If you ever call me that again, Paul, I'll whoop your butt!"

"Okay, okay," Paul said raising his hands in surrender before squinting into the sun. "We better get going though! We're gonna miss the Ledyba!"

We made quick work of Route 35 and passed onto Route 36. Route 36 was more wooded than Route 35 but was also much better manicured. Up ahead, I could hear a strange, melodious humming sound.

"Oh no!" Paul exclaimed. "We're missing it!"

Paul started to run forward, Katie and me at his heels. We reached a large, sun-filled clearing and stopped in awe. Ledyba were everywhere, the morning sun reflecting off of their orange and black shells. They seemed to be dancing both midair and on the ground in rhythmic circular motions. "Ledy-Ledy-Ledyba!" they crooned to each other.

"It's the Ledyba Sun Salute," Paul breathed. "The ancients thought it was a spiritual ceremony to greet the summer sun but we know now that it's actually Ledyba's mating dance. Notice how some of them are already paired up; they'll eventually go off on their own to build a nest for their eggs and the amount of Ledyba doing the dance will gradually decrease as the summer goes on."

"Thank you, Human Pokédex," Katie mumbled, entranced by the rhythmic, almost hypnotic movements of the Ledyba. I snorted in laughter but I have to admit, it was really cool.

We sat at the edge of the clearing, watching for some time before Katie got bored and insisted that we move on. "We can't get to the Indigo Plateau just by sitting here!" Katie exclaimed enthusiastically, playfully pulling me to my feet.

I felt like someone had just jump-kicked my stomach. I had let myself forget about the task at hand. I was having fun while my mother and all of my friends were in trouble! Suddenly the Ledyba didn't seem so beautiful anymore. "We have to go!" I exclaimed guiltily.

"Fine, fine," Paul muttered grumpily. "Whatever you girls want. Although we're missing the best part."

"When's the best part?" Katie asked, pausing.

"About an hour…" Paul mumbled.

"Oh well, another time then," Katie said nonchalantly. "Little Jenny's got somewhere to be!"

"I'm 5'3! That's not that little!" I protested, feeling suddenly indignant. Elsa was only 4'11 and Melanie was 5'4 so I was pretty much average height on the Island. "You're just freakishly tall."

"Aw you're so cute! I'm not freakishly tall," Katie said. "I'm only 5 inches taller than you."

"Girls," Paul intervened, pointing towards the trail ahead. A majestic looking Pokémon with a huge rack of antlers stood before us, it's head low to the ground as if we had just caught it grazing.

"A Stantler," Katie said, without consulting her Pokédex. "Don't stare at its antlers. My aunt did once and had horrible hallucinations. Something about Uncle Jimmy and a meatloaf… She never was quite the same after that."

"Duly noted," I said averting my eyes. My knees were starting to get weak just from staring for a few seconds. "He sure is beautiful, though."

"Oh," said Paul. "Do you want me to help you catch it?"

"Huh?" I said. "You can do that?"

"Definitely do it!" Katie interjected. "That way you'll have at least one Pokémon that listens to you… probably."

"Okay, fine," I said. It would be nice to have a Pokémon that listened once in a while. "Just tell me what to do."

"Cool," Paul said. He handed me a Pokéball. "You can borrow my Flaaffy, Shocky. I'll tell you what to do."

"Wait! I have to battle it?" I squeaked.

"Of course! Don't worry! Shocky'll listen to you! She's a good girl."

Hesitantly, I tossed the Pokéball and, with a flash of red light, a cute pink sheep Pokémon was unleashed.

"Flaaffy!" she exclaimed, looking from Paul to me.

"Tell her to use Thunder Wave," Paul instructed. "She also knows Thundershock, Tackle and Growl but it's good to use a status effecting attack first in some cases."

"Okay," I said. "Shocky, use Thunder Wave?" Shocky looked at Paul for affirmation, then sent a weak blast of electricity towards the Stantler.

The Stantler tried to dodge it but was just barely too slow. The electricity travelled up its hoof and into its body, making it twitchy and slow. I almost felt bad for it before it suddenly glared daggers at me and aimed a crippling Tackle attack right at Shocky.

"Shocky! Dodge it and use Thundershock!" I yelled instinctively. To my shock, the Flaaffy leapt over the charging, sparking Stantler and sent out a powerful bolt of electricity into the Stantler. The Stantler staggered forward slightly, its limbs sparking and twitchy, before falling forward onto its knees.

"Oh great! It's fully paralyzed," Paul said. "Now throw this Pokéball at him. Try to hit him between the eyes. That's his most effective catch spot." Paul pushed a Pokéball into my hands and withdrew next to Katie.

I did as I was told, tossing the Pokéball carefully, and to my surprise, hit the Stantler almost directly between the eyes. The Pokéball swallowed up the Stantler and fell to the ground shaking a little. Its release button glowed red briefly before becoming still. I went to go pick it up, marveling at my own skill. I just caught my first Pokémon!

"You did it!" Katie shouted gleefully, leaping on me from behind and bear hugging me. I staggered forward with a "Waaoww!"

"I-I did it…" I gasped, staggering under Katie's weight.

"You were amazing!" Katie squealed in my ear, still hugging me. "It was like Shocky was your Pokémon! You were super imposing!"

"Me? Imposing? That's just ridiculous!" I laughed at her. I didn't think I had an imposing bone in my body. I picked up my Stantler, laughing.

"Well, I was intimidated," Paul said. "You had a very powerful aura just then. Like you'd been battling all your life."

"Uhh, no. That was my first battle. Me and Pokémon don't really mix well…" I mumbled, fidgeting uncomfortably.

There was a bit of an awkward silence before Katie bounced forward. "You should let out your new Pokémon! You're gonna have to really train if you ever want to step foot on Victory Road, let alone the Indigo Plateau!"

I felt myself blush. Was getting to the Indigo Plateau really that impossible?

"Anyway…" I said, tossing my Pokéball. Stantler popped out in a flash of red light. He staggered forward, still paralyzed, but showed no sign of wanting to attack. "Oh no! What do we do?" I gasped as the Pokémon twitched painfully.

Paul handed me a couple of bottles. "Spray these on him. They're Super Potion and Paralyze Heal."

"'Kay," I said, taking the medicine and spraying it over Stantler's coarse brown coat. Within moments, he was fit as a fiddle. He nuzzled my hand with his velvety round nose. I felt my heart leap with surprised pleasure at my Stantler's sign of affection and acceptance. "I'm going to call you Stanley!" I said with a sudden burst of inspiration and adoration. Me from two days ago would have face-palmed herself. I had always been against naming Pokémon people names.

"Congratulations!" Katie boomed in a deep, mock-game show host voice. "You've just nicknamed your Stantler the single most common name for Stantlers!"

"It just seemed like a good name…" I said straightening up and glaring at Katie in mock anger.

Paul snorted. "You and Pokémon don't really mix, eh? Look how much Stanley likes you already."

I looked behind me. "Gaak! He's eating my hair!" I shrieked. "Don't do that!" I tugged my ponytail out of Stanley's mouth. He looked up at me with big, brown, apologetic eyes as if to say he would never eat my hair again. "Aww," I said and scratched him behind the ears. "I can't stay mad at you."

We continued on our way. I left Stanley out of his ball so I could have some bonding time with him. He pranced along beside me, stopping for an occasional berry or head scratch. I realized that I still couldn't look at his antlers for long without feeling sleepy.

After walking for a while, Paul announced that we were close to the path to Violet City. The sun was starting to rise high into the sky and so were my nerves. We were sure to meet some other trainers and surely some of them would have seen the news. I would just have to suck it up and tell Paul and Katie and pray that they wouldn't abandon me.

"Hey guys?" I said softly, still unsure about how to go about this. "I have to tell-"

I stopped suddenly, the blood draining from my face, making me feel dizzy. Not far in front of us there was a group of blue-uniformed men in what was obviously a police checkpoint. I staggered behind a tree and slid down its trunk, feeling helpless and nervous.

"Oh! That's weird! There's a police blockade! I'm going to see what that's all about," Paul said in fake enthusiasm and rushed off, much to my dread.

"Stupid Paul. He really sucks when it comes to sad or sick people," she sat down next to me, rubbing my back. "Are you okay?"

My tongue felt like lead. I couldn't breathe. I just shook my head lamely, feeling like I would throw up if I opened my mouth.

Stanley nibbled my hand comfortingly as Katie rubbed my back. "Do you need any water?" she asked nervously. I shook my head. "What happened? Did you get stung by a Beedrill or something?"

I shook my head again. "I-I have to tell you something," was all I could manage before Paul came racing back into view.

"Jennifer Flint," he said, looking me in the eye quizzically. A white piece of paper was folded crisply in his hand.

I was going to jail, or back to Team Rocket. I wasn't sure which would be worse. I stared back at him, my mouth quivering. "I didn't - please," was all I could manage. My brain felt so fuzzy I could no longer manage coherent sentences.

Katie looked between us, confusion written all over her face. "Wait. What?"

Paul opened his mouth to speak but hesitated. "The police said we couldn't get through. There's a criminal on the loose."

"Oh my gosh! What did he do?" Katie asked, her eyes wide with interest.

"Kidnapping. It's apparently connected to Team Rocket. The police said that the suspect has a powerful team of Pokémon with them and if we see them to call the police rather than approach them," Paul smirked slightly at this.

I couldn't believe my ears! Paul wasn't going to turn me in. And he wasn't telling Katie. He was leaving that up to me, which was fine considering I had been planning on telling them about my situation anyway. Just not in front of a police checkpoint.

"Anyway, I guess we're going to have to go through Ecruteak after all…" he said looking slightly down.

"Really!?" Katie looked excited. "Does that mean I get to go against the Gym Leader?"

"Maybe," Paul said. "If you make it quick. Jenny's got somewhere she needs to be."


	7. Chapter 6: In the Clear

**Author's Note :) : Happy Groundhog Day! I know that I'm just a couple of years off the ball and Generation VI is already on the way but I just started Pokemon Black and it is fantastic! Everything is so pretty! My only criticism is that it feels like some of the character designers got a little tired and made things like garbage bag and ice cream Pokemon. But I guess even garbage bags need love too... Thanks for the reviews and please don't be afraid to shoot one my way. I love to hear what y'all think of my story and how I can make it better :)**

Walking down the rest of Route 36 was a tense and tedious affair. The road was cleared of brush for the most part so we ran into very few Pokémon to break the ice between us. Paul was incredibly tense. I tried to talk to him but he simply ignored me, his eyes roving the road ahead and through the forest, scanning for other trainers. He looked about ready to lash out at the next person who appeared on the road.

Katie seemed to have noticed the tension between us and pestered like it was her job. "What did you do to make him so mad?" she finally asked after all of her efforts with Paul were brushed off.

"I-I umm…" I stammered. _Just tell her you're an accused felon and we can get off of this nonsense_, an impatient voice in the back of my head growled. I took a deep breath, collecting my thoughts, and had opened my mouth to tell her when Paul sent me a glare, shaking his head just a little bit. I got the message. "Nothing?" I finished uncertainly. Paul gave me a tight smirk and kept on walking ahead.

Katie shrugged and seemed to give up the subject. The three of us walked in silence for a while. It was nearing noon before Paul finally spoke. "I know a good place where we can stop and eat lunch. It's nice and secluded so we won't have to worry about running into anybody."

"You sound like a serial killer," Katie growled grouchily. She did not like being kept in the dark about stuff and she especially didn't like the rotten mood of our little party. We continued on in silence.

Probably ten minutes later, we heard the grind of gravel under wheels coming up behind us. Paul spun around wildly, hazel eyes wide, and shoved me face-first into a leafy bush next to the path. Sharp branches whipped at my face and arms as I went down and I landed with an "oof" on the other side of the bush and quite thoroughly out of sight. I could hear Katie shouting at Paul as I lay there trying to catch my breath. "You could have killed her!" Katie bellowed angrily.

"Shut up, Katie!" Paul pleaded as I heard the cyclist pull up next to them.

"Is everything okay over here?" he said, his worried voice sounded young.

"Fine, fine, we're just arguing over directions is all," Paul said loudly before Katie could say anything.

"Why are you being such a dick, Paul?" Katie demanded angrily. "You could've-"

"Oh my gosh! You're Paul! As in, Paul MacPhee?" the kid cut in. "You're like, my hero!"

"I am?" Paul said, obviously surprised.

"You're _so _humble!" the boy gushed. "I was there you know, when you beat Morty. You only used one Pokémon to his three. You were so _cool_."

"Listen, kid-" Paul started. I could tell just from hearing his voice that he was blushing furiously.

"And then when you beat Clair," the kid continued.

"You beat Clair?" Katie asked, shocked. "You never told-."

"Who are _you_?" the kid cut her off. His voice was disgusted, as if he had just stepped in Pokémon poo.

"I'm Katie," she said disgruntled.

"I don't care who you are. Is she your girlfriend?" the kid asked Paul. Paul must have shook his head because the kid went on. "You called the great Paul MacPhee a dick and you're not even his girlfriend. Who do you think you are? Paul should be travelling with someone who's actually good! Like me!"

"What the-," Katie started. I crept forward to peer through the bushes at the scene unfolding before me. Paul looked thoroughly taken aback and was blushing furiously. Katie stood in a defensive stance with her fists clenched at her sides. She looked about ready to murder someone. The boy, who couldn't have been much older than eleven, stood leaning against his bike. He wore big, thick rimmed glasses but that didn't hide the cockiness in his eyes.

"I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!" the boy growled. "One Pokémon each. Whoever wins gets to travel with Paul!"

"Hey!" Paul protested. "Don't I get any say in this?"

"You're on!" Katie spat back, ignoring Paul completely.

Paul sidled over to my bush, "Hey. I'm sorry, are you okay?" he murmured quietly so that he wouldn't be overheard.

"I'm fine," I whispered. Even though I had been pushed unceremoniously into a bush, I was still pretty excited to see Katie battle another trainer. Fire seemed to spew out of her eyes as she reached to her belt to call out her first Pokémon.

"Go Jaws!" she shouted and a bluish crocodilian Pokémon with a yellow belly was released.

"Oh she's really pissed," Paul mumbled to me. "She only uses her Croconaw first when she's really mad."

"Oh! Just a Water Pokémon, huh?" the kid smirked.

"What's wrong with having a Water Pokémon?" Katie barked.

The kid smirked. "Jaws. What kind of stupid name is that?" Katie looked ready to rip the kids face off as he reached into his back and pulled out his first Pokéball. "Go Sunflora!"

A two foot tall humanoid flower Pokémon popped out of its ball. Its yellow flower face smiled absurdly as it clenched its little leafy fists.

"Oh going by types, eh?" Katie laughed mockingly. "Nice amateurish technique. I'll beat you anyways! Stupid fanboy!"

"We'll see about that," the kid laughed back, brushing his brown hair off his forehead. "And it's not fanboy. It's Jordan."

"Big whoop," Katie scoffed. "Me and Jaws are about to wipe the floor with your stupid fanboy face. Jaws! Let's start this off with a Bite!"

Jaws ran forward with surprising speed and grabbed the Sunflora in its powerful jaws before it could react. The Sunflora's smile wavered for a moment in pain.

"Sunflora! Toxic!" Jordan called.

"Flor!" the flower Pokémon growled, sending a stream of toxic sludge down the Croconaw's throat.

"Croco…" Jaws growled, looking visibly ill.

"Oh no, she's poisoned," Paul said quietly. I watched as Jaws tried to stay on defense but couldn't help but grasp her stomach in pain.

"Well, I don't really like battling with ill Pokémon so we'll just have to finish this off faster than I'd like," Katie said. "Jaws! Use Ice Punch."

It happened so quickly. One moment, Jaws was practically keeled over in pain, the next, she was leaping at breakneck speed towards the shocked Sunflora, sending a fistful of ice right into its smiling mouth. It was a critical hit and super effective, sending the Sunflora flying towards its trainer and unable to battle.

"Damn!" Jordan swore. "I didn't even get to use my best moves." He withdrew his Pokémon without another word, his face red with shame. "I'm sorry Paul. I guess you'll just have to travel with this jerk for a little while longer."

"Uh, yeah. What a shame," Paul said slightly sarcastic.

Jordan turned to Katie, sticking his finger in her face. "You beat me this time but next time you won't be so lucky! I'm gonna train hard and I'll beat you cuz you're just a stupid girl!" He turned his bike around and headed off towards Ecruteak City.

"Stupid fanboy!" Katie shouted after him. "You're gonna need a lot more than lame insults to beat me!" Jordan turned around and flipped her off. "Stupid fanboy midget with his lame ass flower Pokémon. I've never met such a rude little kid in my life!"

"Well, you won so I don't have to travel with him. Thankfully," Paul laughed pulling me out of the bush.

"Whoa! I totally forgot about you, Jenny!" Katie said. "That kid was just so annoying! I'm sorry about that!"

"It's fine," I said picking sticks out of my hair. "Are we almost to the lunch spot?" I asked hopefully, changing the subject.

"Yup!" Paul said, his stomach growling audibly. "It's actually right around the corner and through the woods a bit."

"Wait," Katie intervened. "Paul just pushed you into a bush. You're not mad at him?"

"Of course not," I said. "It was just an accident. Right, Paul?"

Paul nodded in affirmation and Katie dropped her hands to her sides in exasperation. "Whatever," she sighed. "Let's just go eat lunch."

The tiny trail was located about a hundred yards down the road. We would have walked right past it if Paul hadn't known where it was. The path led us through the thick deciduous forest until we reached a small, sunny clearing next to a stream. Flowers covered the ground, sending up a sweet fragrance to tickle my nostrils. A fire pit had been made in the shade next to the stream.

"It's so pretty here! Like a fairy tale!" I blurted out.

Paul laughed at me before giving out directions. "Katie, you start prepping the food while Jenny and I will look for firewood." He dragged me into the forest without waiting for an answer.

Once we were a decent ways way from the clearing he pulled a paper from his pocket and held it in front of my face. I flinched visibly as a picture of my face stared back at me looking aggressive. I knew that picture! It had been taken by my mother about a year ago after I discovered some rotten Moomoo Milk in our refrigerator. "I didn't do it," I said automatically.

"I didn't think you did," Paul said. "You don't like you would do that kind of thing. At first I kind of thought you might have but then the authorities said that you had kidnapped your mom with a team of powerful Pokémon and I knew that something was wrong. I figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt. But I do need an explanation."

"Of course. I was going to have to tell you guys eventually," I said biting my lip and wondering where to start. I told him all about my kidnap from Floe Island and how I had never been to the mainland before and about my escape from Team Rocket and how they had threatened and apparently kidnapped my mother. "But there's one thing I don't really understand," I said fretfully. "How did they know I was in Goldenrod when I started out in Saffron City. That's really kind of far."

"You were spotted in a Pika-Chew's," Paul said, wrinkling his nose slightly. I thought about the girl at the counter of the fast food joint and her stupid bubble gum. "They have security cameras so they confirmed that it definitely was you in there."

"Oh," I said. "I actually didn't know I was wanted by the police until about a minute before you showed up. That's why I was so upset. Well, that and the fact that I was kidnapped and held hostage and all that other fun stuff."

Paul grinned. "Well, we still have to tell Katie. I didn't want to tell her right away since she can be kind of… dramatic."

"I think she can take it," I laughed. "It's not like I'm actually a criminal and I'm going to turn you guys in to Team Rocket."

"It's still possible," Paul laughed. "But you'd have to beat me in a Pokémon battle first. As you can probably tell, I'm pretty tough," he said flexing his bicep jokingly.

"Yeah well, I think you're probably the worst of my worries. We should probably gather some sticks before we go back to Katie," I said. "After seeing that battle, I'm kind of afraid for my life."

"As you should be," Paul said. "I've been afraid for my life ever since I met her."

"After we do tell her though, I really do need to get to the Indigo Plateau. I think the rest of the Elite Four may be the only ones who can help me save my mom."

Paul nodded in agreement but still looked troubled as we gathered sticks and logs and brought them back to the clearing to make a cook fire.

"What took you guys so long?" Katie asked. She was sitting next to the fire pit, writing things on the stones with a long partially burnt stick.

"Oh. There was a shortage of… wood," I said stupidly.

Paul laughed, dumping his kindling next to the pit and began to make a little stick tent in the middle of the fire pit. "We just had a bit of a chat about how terrifying you are."

"What?" Katie exclaimed, scandalized. Her eyes moved from Paul to me. "Is that true?"

"Um no, actually we were talking about me," I said slowly. "There's been something I've been meaning to tell you for a while but it just never seemed like the right time."

"Oh my gosh, you're a serial killer!" Katie exclaimed. "That's why you freaked out when you saw the police!"

"No, I-," I began.

"Then you're a secret Pokémon Master! I knew it!"

I looked at Paul in exasperation. He shrugged and pushed my Wanted sign under her nose. She read it and her eyes widened. "You're Lorelei's daughter?! Like, Elite Four Lorelei?" She actually looked impressed.

I nodded feeling slightly taken aback. She wasn't freaking out. "We hand you a Wanted poster of me and that's what you get out of it?"

"I don't actually believe that you could have kidnapped Elite Four Lorelei. She's so bad ass and you're so…" she looked down at me as if calculating my exact measure of badassery, "not."

"Gee. Thanks," I said. I felt like I had done some pretty bad ass things over the past couple of days.

"Well some people just have it," she said tossing her curly hair over her shoulder. "You clearly don't. And Paul. What is this I hear about you having the Rising Badge? How many badges do you have, exactly?"

Paul blushed furiously. "I only have three. Fog, Storm and Rising."

"So you beat Chuck, too. Okay, I gotcha."

"Why are we talking about my badges? I think we have bigger problems on our hands. Like, the fact that we are currently traveling with a 'wanted criminal'?" Paul used air quotes over my criminal status.

"Well, that does pose a problem. I guess you should tell me just how you got into this mess and we can figure stuff out from there?"

I told my story again from the beginning.

"You know," Katie said after I was done, "I was wondering why you didn't have any bags or stuff. I mean, at least a clean pair of underwear. I just thought you were hopeless and that it would be rude to ask or something."

I laughed while Paul put his forehead in his palm, shaking his head. After my whole story, that was what she focused on.

"I guess we'll just have to make do with what we have for now," Paul said. "Although I was thinking, we should try to make her look a little less like herself, you know."

"I have just the thing!" Katie exclaimed, rummaging in her blue backpack and pulling out a small plastic case. "I wear these when I want to feel smart," she explained, opening the box and putting a pair of thick rimmed reading glasses on my face. Both Katie and Paul started laughing simultaneously.

"Do I really look that bad?" I asked, scowling and brushing my hair out of my face self consciously.

Katie held out a hand for the glasses. "Maybe that's not such a good idea," she said between laughs. "You looked just like your mom! Especially with that face!"

I felt myself blush and snatched the glasses off of my face. "I'm never wearing glasses again," I sighed, cupping my cheek in my hand in embarrassment. People always told me I looked just like Mom. I didn't really take that as much of a compliment. My mom always told me that the only thing I had inherited from my father was my stubbornness and my body type, which I took to mean that I was short and mannish versus my tall, willowy and busty mother.

"I have a hat," Paul suggested, digging through his bag. "And sunglasses." He tossed me a grey Ecruteak Eevees baseball cap and a pair of aviators. I put them on.

"Haha, I think that your bad ass level just went up a bit. But only because you can pull off aviators," Katie giggled.

"Thanks, Katie," I said sarcastically.

Paul went to go make our lunch with the help of Katie's Houndour while Katie went about dressing me in all of her clothes and attempting to make me as disguised as possible while still remaining nondescript.

In the end, Katie let me borrow a green and blue plaid button down shirt and some green and blue striped knee socks to cover up the scratches on my legs. Katie then pinned up my hair in such a way that we could hide most of it under my hat and gave me a little make up so that maybe people wouldn't recognize me if I did take my sunglasses off.

It was all very tedious and embarrassing but by the end of it, I was amazed what a little accessorizing can do.

Katie shrugged, scrutinizing me carefully. "Well, you could look worse," she said. Her eyes fell to the piles of her and Paul's possessions littering the ground around us. "We did the best we could with what we had, eh Paul?" she nudged her friend who had wandered over to tell us that lunch was served but was now zoning out, holding his empty red backpack fretfully.

"What?" he said snapping out of his reverie. "What a mess…" he managed. "How did this happen?"

"Don't worry about it," Katie said dumping an armful of Paul's unfolded clothes back into his bag.

"Hey!" Paul protested, taking the clothes back out before folding them carefully. "If you just throw them in like that we won't be able to fit the rest of the stuff! Why don't you guys go eat lunch and I'll take care of this," Paul said bitterly.

Katie and I discovered a delicious meal of bacon and toast with a Sitrus Berry spread waiting for us next to the fire pit. We gorged ourselves, making sure to save some for Paul and then unleashed our Pokémon for a meal of Pokémon food and assorted berries.

Katie released all four of her Pokémon. Jaws the Croconaw and Bitey the Houndour quickly acknowledged me before going straight to their Pokémon food while Katie introduced me to her Weepinbell and Noctowl. "This is Chompy," she said pointing to her Weepinbell who politely held out a vine for me to shake, "and Otus." The Noctowl regarded me aloofly from Katie's shoulder.

I released Stanley and Harry from their balls. Harry hardly even considered looking at me and went straight for the Pokémon food. The little Abra sat against a tree, lifting the food up into his mouth with his psychic powers and ignored me completely. Stanley, on the hand, dashed about energetically, nuzzling my hand with his wet nose before rushing over to a Chesto Berry bush and eating both berries and leaves indiscriminately. I smiled at my Stantler's antics and hoped that maybe some of his enthusiasm would rub off onto Harry.

Much to my surprise, Paul only let out his Flaaffy, Shocky. "My other Pokémon eat other stuff. I'll have to feed them later," he explained vaguely, running a hand through his already neat hair.

I shrugged my shoulders and wandered over to where my Abra was sitting. His eyes glowed lightly with psychic power as he levitated a few pieces of Pokémon food and pelted me right in the forehead. "Ow!" I exclaimed in shock. Frustration bubbled up inside of me. "Why can't you just give me a chance?" I whined agitatedly at Harry, crouching down and examining my knees feeling sheepish. When I looked up, Harry had gone to sleep. Typical. I held out his Pokéball, recalling him in defeat. At least Stanley liked me.

We left the clearing at a little past two. Katie and I were both in high spirits. I had to admit, I was in much better spirits now that I was in a disguise and had friends that knew my secret. Plus, we were finally on the move and we were both excited to get to Ecruteak City. Once there, we would be staying at a Pokémon Center where I would try to contact everybody I knew once again. I prayed for an answer from anybody at all, just so that I could know what was going on and let them know I was safe.

We crested the top of a tall hill and Ecruteak City lay far below us. The city was beautiful. It wasn't nearly as large or as noisy as Goldenrod. Most of the buildings were small with beautiful traditional architecture, featuring open yards and vast amounts of cherry trees. A tall pagoda tower with colorful tiled roofs overlooked the eastern corner of the city like a great sentinel keeping watch over its citizens. An even taller mountain towered over that.

Katie gasped in excitement next to me. "This is so exciting!" she breathed. "I can't wait to explore! I want to challenge Morty and check out the Burned Tower and see the Kimono Girls! This is gonna be so awesome!"

Paul, meanwhile, was looking more and more strained the closer we got. His jaw was tight and a vein was starting to make an appearance in his neck. I fell back, falling into stride next to him. "You all right there, Paul?" I asked quietly as Katie went on about the things she wanted to do ahead of us.

He nodded, looking slightly ill. I walked beside him, waiting to see if he would talk about it but not wanting to ask.

"Ecruteak is my hometown," he blurted out finally, blushing furiously. "I'm kind of a big deal here." He sighed as if he had been holding his breath and could breathe again now that he had spewed his secret.

I laughed at him. "Such modesty! And why is that?"

"Well…" he started, trying to think of how he could say it without bragging. "I um… was first in my class at Pokémon School and um… I beat Morty with just my Magnemite… and my father is the director of the Kimono Girls and um…"

"Wait!" Katie cut in, her eyes glowing with excitement. "Your father's the Kimono Girls' director? So we can actually meet the Kimono Girls?"

"Well… yeah," Paul mumbled sheepishly. Katie whooped in delight, skipping a little ahead in her excitement. "I didn't really want to go home though," Paul sighed miserably, dragging his feet.

"Hey, it can't be that bad," I told him. "At least none of your parents are in the Elite Four."

"Touché," Paul said, a smile fluttering across his lips. "But my dad did used to make me practice with the Kimono Girls and that was pretty humiliating."

"That's probably why you're so good today," I teased him before running off to join Katie in the front.

"Sounds like we're in Paul fanboy country," Katie said quietly so that Paul wouldn't hear. "We'd better watch our backs if they're anything like that one from earlier erm… Whatsis face."

"Maybe Paul's the one that could have used a disguise," I laughed back. "He's not too keen on going back to his hometown, is he?"

"Hopefully he's just being dramatic," Katie glanced around furtively. "I know that he gets excited over stupid things, but he's usually pretty calm. I guess I haven't known him for long enough to know for sure, though," she sighed ponderously, picking at her fingernails.

We were silent for a few minutes, having a sober moment I suppose, before the sign to Ecruteak swam into view. Katie and I looked at each other in excitement, despite the groans that could be heard behind us from Paul, and ran forward. We would soon be in a new city, a new chance for adventure and for me, a new chance to try for safety. I momentarily forgot my troubles as we ran under the first torii that led into the city.


	8. Chapter 7: The Kimono Girls

I'll admit even today that I still feel guilty about how much fun I was having with Katie and Paul. I let the moment take me away from my worries. I should have been rushing to get back to my family, my friends and my home. Instead, I was off gallivanting with my new friends. There are so many things that I should have been doing instead but I guess at the time, the other alternatives weren't as clear to me as they are today.

"Ecruuuuu-teak! Citaaaaayyy!" Katie sang in a punk-rock sort of way as we stepped into the city, playing some mad riffs on her air guitar.

"Shut up!" Paul begged desperately, despite the fact that no one was around. It was only about half past two so not many people were in the streets. "We don't want to get anyone's attention!"

"Yes… attention from all these lovely, nonexistent people," Katie said sarcastically. "I'll try to tone it down so that Pidgey over there won't tell his friends that you're here."

"You know, you should really show more respect for your elders," Paul frowned at her, half jokingly.

"Yes, Elder Paul," Katie said stopping to bow solemnly at Paul. Something seemed to catch her eye. "Hey Jenny!" she exclaimed without warning.

I jumped, surprised by her sudden gear shift. "Wha?"

"How do you feel about getting your hair dyed?" she pointed to an ad in a convenience store a half a block down showing a woman with shiny blonde hair.

"I…uh…" was all I could manage. I had always liked my hair color.

"Don't be stupid!" Paul interjected agitatedly. "My dad is the director of the Kimono Girls. I've got access to sooo many wigs."

Katie pouted as we walked past the store.

"We should probably start by going to the Pokémon Center," Paul said. "It's just down this road a bit."

"You're just putting off meeting your parents, aren't you?" Katie mused. "I'm gonna go to the Gym while you guys do other stuff like perfect Jenny's disguise. I wanna see the Kimono Girls when I get back!"

Paul groaned, scratching the back of his neck as Katie ran off. "She's going in the wrong direction but she'll figure it out soon enough…" he commented slowly. He was so calm as we set off at a leisurely pace towards the Pokémon Center when suddenly, panic seemed to hit Paul and he took off, power-walking at a breakneck speed. His legs were much longer than mine, forcing me to jog to keep up.

"Paul," I gasped. "Why are you going so fast?"

"I just want to get to the Pokémon Center unnoticed," he gasped back. Sweat was rolling down his temples.

"I think more people will notice you if you're going this fast!" I gasped. "This is silly!"

"You're right," he said stopping suddenly, looking gloomy. "I'm being silly."

Paul seemed pretty freaked out. His jaw was tight and a vein throbbed in his neck. His hazel eyes were surprisingly dark. I could tell that he would rather be just about anywhere else in this world than Ecruteak City. I put an arm around him comfortingly. "Let's just go at a leisurely pace. You'll be fine."

Paul's jaw seemed to loosen just a bit. "I'll be fine…" Paul repeated. I have to admit, I was a little worried for his sanity. I hadn't been travelling with him for very long but from what I gathered about Paul, he was usually very chill and soft spoken. What could have happened that made Paul so jumpy about his own hometown?

We finally made it to the Pokémon Center. Paul checked us in and healed up our Pokémon while I ventured over to the phones.

I tried my mother's number at the Elite Four's Headquarters. "Hello, you've reached Lorelei of the Elite Four. I'm not available to speak at the moment, but please leave your name, number, and business and I will be sure to contact you as soon as I can. Thanks," my mother's voice said calmly.

I got ready to leave my message. I would tell her I loved her and I was okay. I would tell her to answer her gosh darn phone once in a while. I would tell her not to trust Team Rocket. Instead, I was greeted by a new voice.

"The number you have called's voicemail is full and cannot accept any further messages. Please hang up and dial again. We are sorry for this inconvenience," said a tinny female voice. How many calls did she get a day?

"Awesome…" I mumbled, wishing I knew some of the other numbers to the Elite Four. I stared at the blank screen for a moment before dialing the Floe Island Daycare Center. The phone rang once, causing my heart to leap before dropping off into dial tone. The same happened to every other number I called. My heart sunk. This had Team Rocket's name written all over it. They had obviously infiltrated Floe Island. I prayed that they hadn't hurt any of my friends.

I pushed the heels of my hands into my eyes, feeling suddenly tired.

"Are you okay?"

Paul had crept up behind me so quietly that I jumped. My heart beat heavily in my ears. "No. Not really," I said quietly. "I'll be fine though." I was determined not to cry. I had done way too much of that in the past few days.

"Still no word then?" he asked. I looked up at him. His face was full of concern making my eyes fill up with tears.

I shook my head and fixed my eyes on the blank phone screen, clenching my jaw. I would not cry. Not one tear would be allowed out.

"Listen. We'll get there soon," Paul said. "I'll try my hardest to get you to the Indigo Plateau safe and sound. Katie and I may not be the strongest or the smartest trainers, but we'll do our best to get you where you need to go."

I bit my lip and wiped a tear off my cheek. "Thanks, Paul," I mumbled. "I wouldn't have made it out of Goldenrod without you, so thanks."

Paul opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself, looking embarrassed. He shuffled his feet awkwardly, staring at his sneakers with so much intensity that it seemed he believed the world might explode if he looked away.

"I guess we should, um… go try to find you a better disguise," he said finally as if the very idea of it terrified him.

"Okay?" I said, confused by his sudden change in demeanor.

"We should be fine. They should be in practice now…" he mumbled vaguely.

"Who?" I asked.

He gestured at me to follow him. Silently, he collected our newly refreshed Pokémon from Nurse Joy, whom I was sure to thank on our way out, seeing as Paul wasn't going to in his sudden nervous stupor.

We travelled two blocks to the north, finally coming to a large and luxurious theater with a colorful tiled roof and huge old fashioned sliding doors. _Welcome to Ecruteak Dance Hall _read a sign with spindly gold letters on one of the doors.

Paul led me along the outer wall of the theater along a stone path surrounded by various flowering bushes. We ducked under windows, until we came to a rather nondescript side door hidden by a fragrant lilac bush. The scent from the lilac had a calming effect on me. Paul, however, seemed even more uptight.

Paul slid the door open a crack, peering into the dark room before slipping inside. I followed him uncertainly. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the sudden dimness of the room from the bright afternoon sunlight.

The room was full of costumes. Racks upon racks of kimonos lined two of the walls. Props such as fans, feathers and even swords were littered around the walls and floor. Paul jumped nearly a foot in the air when he looked behind a rack of tutus and found a fully dressed mannequin glaring at him with painted white and black eyes. After he recovered from his mini-panic attack, Paul pointed to a row of mannequin heads, each wearing a wig. Many of the wigs were large with elaborate hairstyles and decorations worked into them. Towards the back, a few unstyled wigs sat, looking slightly dusty but immaculate just the same. I reached out and touched one, letting the fine long hair run through my fingers.

"These are hardly ever used," Paul said. "Dad just got them because he got a good deal so he really won't miss one."

I took off my baseball cap and put on a rather nondescript looking brown one. "How do I look?" I asked Paul, pursing my lips and trying to smile with just my eyes and failing miserably.

Paul snorted back some laughter. "To be honest, your eyebrows are a bit too light for that one. Nobody would believe you."

I silently cursed my redhead eyebrows as I pulled off the wig, replacing it with a soft blonde one.

"Much better," Paul said, adjusting the wig so it was on properly and putting on my hat over it. "Very natural looking. Just don't go doing any cartwheels."

I laughed, maybe just a bit too loud. A door at the opposite side of the room slid open. A girl in a kimono silhouetted by a blindingly bright light from behind stood in the doorway, a small, spiky Pokémon at her heels. "Excuse me but guests are not supposed to be in here. If you don't mind—"

"Miki?" Paul blurted out, his voice squeaking an octave higher than usual.

The girl paused, squinting into the dim room. "Paulie?" she returned excitedly. "Girls! Paulie's back!" she shouted over her shoulder before rushing forward to hug Paul, followed closely by her Pokémon.

Paul turned bright red as the pretty young Kimono Girl squeezed him in a powerful embrace. His arms hung loosely at his sides, it took him a moment to regain his senses and hug her back. By then, the other four Kimono Girls had shown up and joined in the hug, each accompanied by a different Pokémon. They squealed things like "Paulie! It's been so long!" and "Paulie! Are you still practicing your ikebana?" while the Pokémon weaved through their legs shouting things like "Jolt! Jolt!" and "Eon!" while skillfully not getting trampled by the larger humans.

All five of the Kimono Girls were super tall and beautiful. They each wore a different colored silk kimono and elaborate hairstyles, which I realized later were probably wigs. They showered Paul with hugs and kisses, which he seemed to take with resignation. I could practically see the steam rising from his skin in his embarrassment.

I shuffled nervously in the background. Nobody was paying me the least bit of mind; I wasn't even sure if the Kimono Girls had noticed me. They had a practiced, willowy grace to them, making me feel incredibly inadequate about my relative shortness and unpracticed clumsiness. I wondered if I should say something or let Paul introduce me. If I said something, they would probably just laugh at me, but I couldn't just skulk here in the shadows. I hesitated uncertainly, unsure of what to do.

I had just opened my mouth to say something when the light flickered on. "What's going on in here?" a cranky voice sounded out.

Everyone paused what they were doing, looking around sheepishly. The man in the doorway was in his late forties. He had immaculate salt and pepper hair. He stared at me, his hard hazel eyes seemed to penetrate into my very soul. "Who are you?" he asked harshly as I cowered under his hard glare.

"Uncle Ed?" Paul said, disentangling himself from some Kimono Girls.

The harsh man's eyebrows lifted as his eyes travelled from me to Paul. "Boy?" he asked, his eyes softening slightly. "Nobody told me you were coming," he growled as if he had been done a great injustice.

"Ah. Well. I didn't know I was coming myself," Paul muttered, his red face getting even redder. His eyes darted quickly between his uncle and me.

"Well, Boy," Uncle Ed said. "Show me what you've learned on this journey of yours. I hope it was worth our time."

Paul's face turned from bright red to ghostly white. He seemed to shrink in size under his uncle's request. "I-I…" was all he could manage.

Uncle Ed returned his gaze to me. "You. Come with me."

I stared at him speechlessly. He was scary. Every word he said made me fear for my life.

"Just go," I heard Paul moan resignedly from amongst the Kimono Girls. When I looked at him, he raised his eyebrows and gestured with his head to show that I should leave. The color hadn't come back to his face yet.

Despite the protests of every nerve in my body, I followed Uncle Ed meekly out of the room. He led me in silence down a long austere hallway. The long, paper paneled walls to my left were illuminated by the numerous open windows to my right. Various scents from the garden outside tickled my nostrils causing me to sneeze embarrassingly. Uncle Ed didn't even sniff. He just kept going, passing what seemed like dozens of doors and turning down several new corridors. I tried to keep track of where we were going in case I needed to make a quick escape. Left past six doors, right past three doors, left past seven doors, left past four doors, I lost track around there until we finally came to a left with no doors to pass and went straight through to the door at the end.

Uncle Ed opened the door and gestured me through. I found myself in a large, well lit room. A vast stage stood to my left, silver and midnight blue velvet curtains hiding most of it from view. Wide windows with drawn back silver and blue curtains streamed in light onto a cabaret style seating area.

The crowd was small, in fact, it only contained three people. Two were older and unfamiliar, the third, was chatting animatedly to the others, cinnamon skin glowing with excitement as she showed them her new badge. "Katie?" I felt utterly shocked!

"Oh, hey! I almost didn't recognize you!" Katie said trotting over to me. "I was just telling Paul's parents about how I kicked Morty's butt with just my Weepinbell!"

"Oh wow! Great job!" I said, looking over Katie's shoulder at Paul's parents. Both had dark hair but his father looked like a stern, older version of Paul with immaculately neat dark hair and hazel eyes while his mother had much softer expressions. Paul had obviously gotten his demeanor from her but his looks from his father. They seemed friendly enough though.

"Stop lollygagging! The show starts any minute now!" Uncle Ed growled as he pushed between Katie and me and made his way to the table to sit with Paul's parents.

"Let's go!" Katie exclaimed, enthusiastically grabbing me by the arm and pulling me over to the table.

Paul's mom looked at me expectantly. "Another one of Paulie's friends?" she asked with a smile.

I nodded starting to feel comfortable. She seemed nicer than I had expected. "I'm Je-"

"This is… Geraldine," Katie cut me off loudly. "We call her… um… Gerald!"

Paul's mom stared at me with big blue eyes. I had to fix this.

"Actually, just Katie calls me Gerald," I said, trying to sound confident. "Everyone else just calls me Gerri."

"Oh…" Paul's mom said looking confused. "Nice to meet you, Gerri," she paused for a moment, biting her lip and twirling a strand of dark brown hair with her fingers. "Do you mind that she calls you Gerald?" she asked me sounding concerned.

I laughed. "No no. It's kind of an inside joke. Don't worry about it!"

"The boy's going to demonstrate what he's learned on his journey," Uncle Ed cut in hoarsely.

Paul's mom looked noticeably uncomfortable. "I do wish he had just come in through the front like Katie did," she mumbled. "Then I could have seen him first. There wasn't any need to make him give us a demonstration."

"Old habits die hard," Uncle Ed said. "The boy always came in through the kimono room so as not to disturb the audience. That boy is smart."

"Paul is smart," his father said. His voice was like a deeper, older version of Paul's. "But he should have told us that he was coming. If we had known-"

A drum began to beat from the stage behind the curtain. The sound of a shamisen ran out and all of the window curtains closed as if on cue. The room went dark. "The curtains are automated," Paul's mom whispered close by.

The curtain began to rise as a soft, dramatic drum roll began. Six elegant ladies, each dressed in a different colored Kimono and white makeup, stood in a line across the stage. Each held a fan in one hand and a Pokéball in the other. The stage went quiet as we waited with bated breath to see what would happen.

The music began. A soft run from the shamisen filled our ears as the girls danced in unison. Their beauty and grace was unmatched. I was worried about what Paul was going to do to show what he had learned on his journey but I couldn't help but feel impressed by the Kimono Girls. It was nice that they had offered to do an opening act for him, just to keep the audience engaged while we waited for Paul.

The song reached its climax and all of the girls tossed their Pokéballs in harmony. "Eeveelutions!" I heard Katie gasp from next to me. We watched in awe as the Pokémon danced with their trainers. I had never seen anything like it. I let myself get absorbed by the beauty and unity of the show when a loud snort sounded from next to me.

I turned to glare at Katie. How could she possibly be laughing at such a beautiful performance? Her eyes danced merrily as she pointed up at the stage. "One of those things is not like the others," she whispered gleefully.

I looked up at the girls. They all looked the same to me. Their Pokémon were all different but one stood out from the others: a pink sheep Pokémon, slightly less graceful than the Eeveelutions around her. "It's Shocky!" I gasped, shocked by the presence of Paul's Flaaffy onstage. What was she doing with that Kimono Girl?

"It's Paul!" Katie whispered gleefully in my ear.

"No it's not," I whispered back but as I turned my attention back to the stage, I saw it. "It's Paul!" I gasped in shock.

We both stared up at the stage with a mixture of shock and the urge to giggle. How could I have not seen it before? Despite the white makeup and elaborate wig, Paul was still Paul.

The song ended and all of the ladies and their Pokémon filed off of stage except for Paul and Shocky.

The lights dimmed. Paul took a wide stance, shifting his feet ever so slightly into a graceful yet powerful stance. His Flaaffy faced us looking fierce but in control. Paul did an elaborate fan movement with shocking grace and speed as the Flaaffy began to let off an incredible electricity show. Paul appeared to be commanding Shocky on what to do without making a sound and without Shocky looking at him. I felt my mouth hang open as Shocky did a series of Quick Attacks with a powerful Zap Cannon between each. Finally, Shocky let off a huge and magnificent Thunder attack that would have crippled a Ground type and Paul came to the front of stage to take a bow.

We all sat in silence, shocked by what we had just seen before breaking into applause. I noticed that Uncle Ed clapped less enthusiastically than the rest, a frown plastered across his face.

Paul's mom could wait no longer. She dashed over to the stage and ran up the steps to give Paul a tight hug. "Paulie! I've missed you so much!" she said through his kimono.

"I missed you too, Mom," he said. I could tell that if it weren't for his makeup, he would be blushing, but even so, he wrapped his arms tightly around his mother.

"You were awesome!" Katie exclaimed from below them. "Even though I thought you were a girl at first. If we had Pokémon Contests in Johto, you'd be Champion!"

I could almost see him blush through his makeup. "It's not really a big deal…" he mumbled scratching the back of his neck.

His mom seemed to sense Paul's embarrassment. "Paulie, why don't you come with me to get cleaned up? Phil, why don't you take Katie and Gerri to meet the Kimono Girls? I know Katie's been just chomping at the bit to meet them ever since she got here!"

Paul's father, Phil, got up, dusting some invisible dirt off of his shirt. "Well girls," he said brightly. "Are you ready to meet the Kimono Girls?"

"More like battle the Kimono Girls," Katie whispered to me as we got up to follow Paul's father out of the room.

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay! I'm so pleased that more people have taken an interest in my story! :)**

**Thanks to japaneserockergirl, dzk87, and xxalesanaxx for your lovely reviews! They make me happy and remind me that I should be writing when I'm not. Thank you so much!  
**

**Next chapter, we will have more of Paul's backstory, Pokemon battles and 'Gerri' gets trainer tips from the Dance Hall's resident Psychic trainer, Kimono Girl Sayo! Also, other stuff. :)**


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